


horizon line

by astroblemish



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, M/M, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-15 09:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 52,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16060370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astroblemish/pseuds/astroblemish
Summary: One would think at some stage between all the super mutant alien descendants and the love of his life betraying him, Baekhyun would’ve grown accustomed to being thrown into an alternate universe.And yet.(Or: the one where Monster!Baekhyun and LMR!Baekhyun accidentally swap places.)





	1. DEPARTURE / DAWN

**Author's Note:**

> i tried to make sense of exo mvs before realising that nobody including SM themselves have any idea what's going on in those, so i kind of gave up. LMR is a lot edgier than just. college football. but. fuck it. god even knows what's happening in monster so, again, fuck it. i just sort of did what i want with a half-assed traitor/saviour plot bc im obsessed w jongdae being the traitor and making baekchen out of it. sue me. i also tried researching quantum mechanics before realising it's fucking quantum mechanics and talking mostly out of my ass. for all the physicists out there reading this... show me mercy.
> 
> this really was meant to be about half the length it ended up at, which is why the plot is so fucking stupid hijsdfncv. anyway.  
> i wrote this in a fairly short amount of time and it rlly shows.... it's by far one of my most stupid self-indulgent fics yet, filed with all the tacky tropes i love, but i had to write it for my own peace of mind, so... don't @ me.
> 
> some wonderful fanart for this fic can be found [here](https://twitter.com/dragonairily/status/1118355907015053312). i'm so emo abt it ;-;

 

###### "I miss you so much it feels gross. It feels wet. It feels nauseating. I want to rip out my heart and shake it like a magic eight ball.“Is this okay, is this okay, is this okay or does it make me weak?”" [[X](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25784766-the-dogs-i-have-kissed)]

 

 ☾

 

When Baekhyun wakes up, he wakes up alone.

Which isn’t unusual --not by a long shot-- hasn’t been unusual for a while now. Months, years, maybe? It’s hard to recall when it had been exactly that Jongdae had stabbed him in the back --literally and figuratively-- because most of the time that has passed since then has just been a blur of motion and static, like Baekhyun has disconnected from his body and has just been watching it carry out all the actions everybody expects of him, while the rest of him withered away somewhere unseen.

No, waking up alone isn’t the strange part; the sky is.

Not that Baekhyun hasn’t slept outside before, or woken up to a sky --as kids he and Jongdae had become accustomed to sleeping outside in the cold, of course, and there are often times in the present that require a distinct lack of shelter. It isn’t the _presence_ of the sky that’s disconcerting, so much as it is the colour.

Blue.

A sort of blue Baekhyun had never really imagined, before now, the sort of blue that seems soft and loving and entirely… otherworldly. It’s that distinct otherworldly sensation that has him sitting up suddenly, still blinking at the sky, rubbing at his eyelids as white clouds seem to travel across it, wondering if they’re just spots in his vision instead. Yet no matter how hard Baekhyun rubs at his eyes, the sky remains a bright blue dotted with white, and the sharp feeling that something is wrong sinks through him like molten lead.

The realisation wakes him up immediately, and Baekhyun begins to notice everything is wrong. Not only is the sky blue but the trees are green --no, not green, they’re alive, covered in leaves and shivering in the wind, light blinking between the gaps of branches in fragments like stained glass. The ground beneath him is soft, damp, and everything smells like life; it’s the sort of place Baekhyun had imagined would only exist in fairy tales and old books from before the war, the sort of things he and Jongdae used to only dream about.

Is this what this is? Did Jongdae finally win? Is this some… crude reconstruction of far-off memories in order to torture him?

Baekhyun closes his eyes, and feels his power welling deep inside him as he nudges it; no, Jongdae hasn’t won, Baekhyun still has his powers, which means the world around him here isn’t an illusion made from his manifest, it’s real.

Which raises the question… where exactly _is_ here?

Baekhyun’s head seems to feel like holo-monitor static, which also isn’t a rare occurrence these days, but he sort of wishes he could remember anything past… well, the last thing he registers is another run in with the Red Task Force, with Jongdae at the helm, of course, when he and Jongin had intercepted one of their delivery trucks in the inner city for some... core, or something. Baekhyun had made hopeless eye contact with Jongdae over a hoard of soldiers before Jongin had grabbed his hand and--

And what? And _what_?

Baekhyun can’t remember, it blurs and fizzles out, nothing but a vacant space. Irritated, he stands, flexing his muscles. Nothing hurts, nothing is bruised, there isn’t even the distinct nausea Jongin’s leaps usually attach to any passengers; Baekhyun is as untouched as he last was in his memories. He still has all his gear, too --knives and grenades, communicator, watch, even Jongdae’s pendant is still around his neck, when Baekhyun’s fingers raise quickly to brush over it. He’s entirely unharmed, which only further supports his hypothesis that where he is _can’t_ be a result of the RTF getting to him… it just can’t be.

Baekhyun touches the communicator in his ear. “Junmyeon?” he calls. “Junmyeon, do you copy?”

Nothing but static, the fizzle of a lost signal.

Pursing his lips, Baekhyun decides he won’t get any answers standing around, and just in case the RTF is involved --or intending to be-- standing around won’t help either.

It turns out the forest Baekhyun had woken up in is hardly a forest at all, just a sparse cluster of trees until Baekhyun finds a dirt path, surrounded by lush grass nearing a wide pond, where a marble fountain shaped like a large fish sits in the middle, spouting a stream of clear, glittering water. It’s unlike anything Baekhyun has ever seen before, raising his hand up to shadow his eyes from the light coming above. _Light_ , he realises, and when he looks up, sees a sun, completely unshadowed and burning. Is this another planet entirely?

It hurts to look at almost as soon as he does, even if Baekhyun is lost in wonder and wishes to stare forever, he can’t. He appears to be in some sort of… park, maybe? If parks had plants and fountains instead of asphalt and steel, but it’s hard to tell. It’s completely empty, until something round and circular whizzes past his head.

Baekhyun snatches it mid air immediately, one split-second away from eviscerating the thing until he realises it’s just… plastic? Round and bright yellow with various words printed on its surface decoratively. What _is_ this?

“Dude, there you are,” somebody says, and Baekhyun immediately swivels around to face the newcomer, hand not clasping the strange disk poised to strike. “Decided to actually show up, huh?”

Except it’s just Chanyeol, looking a little startled by Baekhyun’s aggressive posture, gingerly taking the disk, who immediately relaxes upon seeing a familiar face.

“What’s with the costume?” Chanyeol asks, wrinkling his nose as he snorts and runs his eyes over Baekhyun’s body, rubbing Baekhyun’s head with an inappropriate amount of affection. Baekhyun frowns. “Did you dye your hair again?”

“Shouldn’t I say the same to you?” Baekhyun's eyebrows pinch as he takes in Chanyeol’s bizarre silver hair, tank top, and shorts, decidedly a lot more revealing and flashy than his usual combo. Then again, Chanyeol has always liked being flashy, so maybe Baekhyun shouldn’t be so surprised. He frowns at him. “Where is this place? How did we get here? _Why_ \--” Baekhyun gives Chanyeol a pointed once-over, not bothering to hide his disgust. “--are you dressed like that? What happened to the sun?”

“Uh.” Chanyeol blinks at Baekhyun, confused. “Our… campus? I assume you just walked over from the dorms dude.” He snorts, and pushes Baekhyun’s shoulder hard enough for him to stumble back, unused to the gesture. “Was geometry so bad you really blacked out hard enough to get amnesia?”

“Geometry? What?” Baekhyun struggles to make sense of Chanyeol’s words, wondering if the gap in his memory is really just that big. “What’re you talking about?”

Chanyeol’s smile diminishes. “Are you… okay?” he asks worriedly, biting his lip and looking at Baekhyun with wide, nervous eyes. “Oh shit Hyun, you know I hate pranks. Cut it out.”

Pranks? _Hyun_? “You’re not Chanyeol,” Baekhyun states in realisation, stepping back in shock.

“I said cut it out,” Chanyeol replies sharply, a mixture of aggravated and nervous. “I really hate shit like this, it’s not funny.”

But he looks so much like Chanyeol it’s impossible to imagine he’s anyone else, sounds like him, smiles like him, even looks nervous like him. Baekhyun has seen the RTF pull off some fucking astounding feats, but they don’t… they can’t recreate a person like this, let alone a whole world, not so accurately. Baekhyun would be able to spot the differences, he just knows it.

“Where’s Junmyeon?” Baekhyun asks instead. “Seungwan? Jongin?”

“What? Who?” Chanyeol’s face scrunched in familiar confusion, nose wrinkling. “Are they your teammates or something? Hey! Aren’t you meant to be at practice right now? Isn’t that why you blew us off originally?”

Practice? Practice for _what_? How could Chanyeol not know who his own family are?

Something is very, very wrong.

Already Baekhyun’s brain, wired for war that it is, is narrowing down the possibilities. Taking the RTF out of the equation doesn’t leave him with much to work with, but all he can seem to work out is that everything in this world is as different as it possibly can be, everything apart for Baekhyun himself.

No. _No,_ that isn't the case at all. Everything in this world is as it should be, it’s just Baekhyun who’s different.

There’s one thing left he has to test his theory. Swallowing as he feels his heart pound and mouth go dry, Baekhyun asks weakly, “Where’s Jongdae?”

Chanyeol blinks at him, tilts his head, gives him an amused look. “Probably at the practice you’re skipping waiting for you, dumbass.”

No hatred, no flash of pain, no sadness, just the simple amicable tone Chanyeol once might’ve referred to Jongdae with years ago. It makes Baekhyun’s blood freeze.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Chanyeol repeats worriedly, wide eyes nervous and flighty like a wild deer, if such a thing still existed. Maybe they do, in this world.

And boy if that doesn’t contribute to Baekhyun’s quickly rising panic attack.

“Do you want me to call Jongdae?” Chanyeol places a caring hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder. Now that’s familiar enough to ground Baekhyun somewhat, quickly numbing his fear. “I can get him to take you home.”

“ _NO._ ” Baekhyun squeezes Chanyeol’s wrist hard enough that he yelps and pulls back, frightened. Baekhyun cools his breathing. “No…” he repeats, exhaling steadily. “No, do not let Jongdae near me at all costs….”

“Are you guys fighting again, seriously?” Chanyeol sighs frustratedly. “You know I keep telling you, if you just told him how you felt--”

Told him what? What is going _on_ in this world, and if this Chanyeol knows Baekhyun, or at least, clearly, some version of him… then where is his counterpart?

“I need you to take me back to--” what did Chanyeol call it again? “--my dorm. Right now.”

“You’re seriously so hopeless with directions I swear--”

“ _Now_ , Chanyeol,” Baekhyun snaps, watching the way Chanyeol stares at him confusedly before shrugging it off and jogging to a small group of people behind him, handing them the plastic disk Baekhyun had caught before and saying something with a shrug. He returns to Baekhyun and glares at him, then begins walking down the dirt path, Baekhyun following a few steps behind, intent on keeping Chanyeol in front of him where he can see him. Chanyeol glances backwards at him confusedly, evidently annoyed, but doesn’t say anything, giving Baekhyun the silent treatment, just like Baekhyun’s Chanyeol normally would anytime he’s mad. Fine, whatever, this Chanyeol can be as mad at Baekhyun as he’d like; wouldn’t affect Baekhyun in anyway. Not this version of him.

And that’s another dizzying thought, but Chanyeol taking him to a strange compound building filled with doors to apartments doesn’t help, each one decorated with a whiteboard drawn on with coloured markers. Chanyeol stops outside a door labelled _04_ and Baekhyun has to resist the urge to laugh sharply; of course his mutant ID tag is his fucking room number. Unbelievable.

The whiteboard on Baekhyun’s door loudly declares _BAEKHYUN_ in bold black marker, with a smaller _\+ Sehun!!_ Beneath in green. The whiteboard is positively littered with messages, ranging from numbers to small phrases and something from somebody who calls themselves their RA, reminding them that inspections are coming up. Half of the messages are rubbed out and a little faded, but there’s one in the corner that says _skip practice and i’ll kill you - JD_. Baekhyun shivers reading it, turning pale.

“Are you going to open it or just stare?” Chanyeol asks impatiently, folding his arms and tapping his foot, clearly irritated by Baekhyun’s demanding attitude. Baekhyun tries the doorknob and it’s locked, making Chanyeol arch an eyebrow at him. “Don’t tell me you forgot your keys, dude. I swear to Christ.”

Baekhyun looks at him impassively, before turning back to the door and this time pulling the knob swiftly enough that it snaps, breaking it off completely and removing the lock. Chanyeol stares at Baekhyun’s hands with wide eyes, but Baekhyun doesn’t care, stepping into the room.

It’s positively littered with... _things:_  bright posters with equally as bright neon words in big bubbles, post-it notes and polaroids with small fairy lights strung around them. There are framed photos on nearly every surface, the bookshelf by the door --pictures of Sehun with people Baekhyun doesn’t recognise-- the desk on each side of the room, the nightstand by each twin bed. It doesn’t exactly feel like something Baekhyun would ever live in, rather a crude, childish imitation of somebody pretending to be him, eccentric and frivolous. Baekhyun could never afford to own so much when he lives his life on the run, to be so messy, be so… free.

He steps towards one of the single beds, and picks up the photo frame sitting on the desk. It’s a picture of Baekhyun and Jongdae, Baekhyun’s arm slung around Jongdae’s shoulder, his hair a shoddy yellow, Jongdae’s face squished against his throwing up a lazy _V_ with two fingers. They’re young and baby-faced, smiling like idiots all the same, but Baekhyun suddenly can’t see the photograph anymore as his vision blurs. If he wasn’t certain about being in another world before, he is now.

“Woah are you crying?” Chanyeol says suddenly, startled as Baekhyun quickly wipes at his eyes with the back of his arm and places the photo down. He can’t even remember the last time he cried, it appears the knowledge that he’s maybe travelled between dimensions is getting to him. “Seriously, what is _up_ with you today, man? You’re cooked.”

“This isn’t my life,” Baekhyun states slowly, shaking his head.

“What?” Chanyeol's face twists.

“This isn’t my life,” Baekhyun repeats, stronger, this time, and with clear eyes picks up the photo of him and Jongdae, pointing to his own face. Or rather, the imitation of his face --another version of it? “ _This_ isn’t me. I’m not Baekhyun, Chanyeol, or rather… I’m not the Baekhyun you know.”

“What?” Chanyeol seems blatantly bewildered, by this stage. “What’re you talking about?”

The last thing Baekhyun remembers is Jongin. It has to be something to do with Jongin, Junmyeon has always warned that controlling space is no easy feat, and that Jongin shouldn’t overload himself or he’ll risk tearing a hole in the space-time continuum… maybe… maybe he did. Maybe he did tear a hole in it, and Baekhyun fell through --or at least, something along those lines. The RTF has an insane amount of power and resources, but even they can’t turn the sky blue.

Even they can’t make Baekhyun and Jongdae ever smile like that.

“I don’t… I don’t think I’m the Baekhyun from this universe.” It sounds ridiculous even to his own ears, but, well… if Baekhyun can be the super mutant descendant of a race of aliens, then why can’t he travel dimensions? It’s not completely out of the question, in fact, Jongin’s power _relies_ on dimensional travel, slipping into the cracks between universes in order to navigate his own quickly enough to pull off what essentially looks like teleporting, it’s not that far-fetched.

“This has got to be the worst prank you’ve ever pulled,” Chanyeol remarks, incredulous. “ _Ever_. And that’s including the time you and Jongdae put hot sauce in my underwear.”

“This isn’t a joke,” Baekhyun snaps, tone evidently surprising Chanyeol, who looks a little taken aback. “In my world, the sky is black.” He points to the window, outside, to where the sun can still be seen clearly. “In my world, your hair is red, and you know who Junmyeon is, and you… you would never speak Jongdae’s name so easily. Not around me.”

“What the _fuck_ are you going on about dude, seriously.” Chanyeol huffs his silver bangs out of his eyes. “Are you high?”

Baekhyun controls his breathing and subsequently, his temper. “I’m not lying,” he grits out. He needs to find some way to prove his existence he just-- can’t think of one--

Chanyeol shakes his head. “Whatever dude. I’m done with your shit, seriously. Jongdae’s the only one who’s willing to put up with it, not me.” And like that he walks out, grumbling beneath his breath, pointedly slamming the broken door closed behind him, although it slowly swings open again, unable to be shut.

Baekhyun, now abandoned in the silence, tries to gather his thoughts, and make sense of this bizarre world presented to him. Chanyeol called this _campus_ , and these the _dorms_ , so… it appears to be some sort of? Boarding school?

The amount of thick books stacked on Baekhyun’s desk would indicate as such, and he moves towards it, skimming over the titles. _Architectural detailing_ , _Geometry 3, Roman Empire & Arts _… each one is thicker and heavier than the last, and covered in colourful tabs poking out every second page. The sticky notes above the wall of the desk have various flashcard-esque reminders, some written in Baekhyun’s handwriting, some not. There are more photos, too, pictures of Baekhyun as a child with people he doesn’t recognise, pictures of Baekhyun with Jongdae, Chanyeol, Sehun, Kyungsoo… Jongdae again. In fact, if anything, the one thing constant in all the photos seems to be Baekhyun and Jongdae, always next to each other, always smiling.

It seems to be a more poignant reminder that this isn’t Baekhyun’s world than he would have liked.

Whatever life this world’s Baekhyun lives… it’s entirely different to Baekhyun’s, so much so that he can’t even fathom it. How much is similar? How much is different? Does Baekhyun risk upsetting… something… somewhere in the universe, if he remains here? If he tells the truth?

And more than that; if Baekhyun is here, now... then where is his counterpart?

 

☀

 

“Um,” Baekhyun says, since it feels like the only appropriate response to the oddly handsome dude looking down at him, eyebrows pinched together and his body on top of Baekhyun’s. Honestly, kudos to Baekhyun’s brain for finally having a fantasy that doesn’t involve some image of Jongdae to some capacity; Sehun is going to be thrilled.

“What… happened to your clothes?” The man on top of him asks, completely unbothered by the fact that he is very much in fact straddling Baekhyun, who turns a little red at the thought. “Your… hair….. what…”

The man’s skin is brown but his hair is a bright blonde, almost white, the sort of colour Baekhyun once tried to get but miserably ended up with yellow until Jongdae bought him toner from the drug store and fixed it. Jongdae is always doing shit like that, fixing Baekhyun’s mistakes. There’s a large scar running diagonally across his face, but Baekhyun definitely doesn’t stare, since that’d be rude.

“Don’t hurt me please,” Baekhyun starts casually, because that feels like the best thing to say when a pretty six-foot dude is sitting on his dick. And not in the fun, non-clothed way. “But… um. Who are you?”

The man blinks, staring at Baekhyun. Baekhyun tries to recall if he’d had one too many drinks, or at least, enough drinks that he could actually hook up with someone and not know their name… he knows his universe kind of revolves around Jongdae but that doesn’t mean he’s like... _that_ much of a cliche asshole.

The stranger pulls off Baekhyun quickly, who sits up, glad to be a little more freed, and winces at the sudden nausea rolling in his stomach, deciding that he might just lie back down for the time being. At least he cranes his neck around, taking in his surroundings, and is… very startled to examine the room, all silver and metallic and sleek, futuristic, with Baekhyun apparently lying on a bed with pristine sheets, the halogen lights flickering every now and then. Weird.

The pretty man touches his own ear. “It’s me,” he says to no one, making Baekhyun’s eyebrows furrow together in confusion. “I’m at the safehouse with Baekhyun but. Er-- well--” He casts a glance over his shoulder at Baekhyun worriedly, who frowns at him in return. “There’s been a problem.”

 

☾

 

Baekhyun spends so much times rummaging through the things of his other self he makes himself sick; the closet filled with soft, clean clothes, the trunk at the bottom miraculously lacking any weapons, a bed that’s comfortable and well slept in, a sleek computer covered in stickers with a surprisingly outdated screen made of glass, rather than a holo-monitor pop-up… There are countless possessions, all equally as loved and cherished, and it makes Baekhyun want to puke.

He jumps, startled and caught off-guard, a rare occurrence, when the front door opens, surprised to see Sehun standing in the entryway, his hair a soft brown.

“Okay, what the _fuck_ happened to our door?” Sehun asks, glancing around at the ransacked room. Half of the things Baekhyun had found, he’d decided, don’t belong to him, and he’d mostly left them in their place on Sehun’s -- _this_ Sehun’s-- side of the room, but Baekhyun’s half looks like Sehun -- _Baekhyun’s_ Sehun-- had thrown a tornado through it. “And what the fuck happened to our _room_!?” Sehun looks appropriately shocked. “What the _hell_ is with your outfit and your hair and-- why aren’t you at practice? Jongdae is going to kill you!”

“Jongdae often tries to kill me,” Baekhyun says disinterestedly, wiping his runny nose on the back of his arm and sniffling, once. “He has yet to succeed.” And not for a lack of trying. It’s almost comforting to know the Jongdae of this world is just as murderous.

“Why are you... talking like that?” Sehun frowns as his eyebrows pinch. “What’s going on?”

Baekhyun just sighs, hands falling even as they hold a framed photo of him and Jongdae grinning, placing it aside.

“I’m not your Baekhyun,” Baekhyun repeats. “This is not my world.”

Sehun stares at him flatly for an entire minute.

“Oh good,” he says, high-pitched and strained. “I was worried you’d finally decided to have natural coloured hair again. That’s way more scary.”

Baekhyun frowns; it’s hard to tell if this Sehun is joking or not, although he does look a little distant, sitting on his own bed with a vacant expression.

“So what? You’re from another universe? An alternate reality?”

“Yes,” Baekhyun answers, sitting up straighter, relieved that at least _someone_ is finally listening to him. “I believe so.”

Sehun scoffs.

“I have to say, you and Jongdae play a lot of shitty pranks, but this one really takes the cake.” He shakes his head in disbelief, as Baekhyun slumps again. “You really think I’m going to fall for this?”

Baekhyun just stares at him, wondering how to convince somebody of something so unbelievable if they haven’t experienced Jongin’s manifest firsthand and-- _oh_ , of course. They’ve never seen anything like Jongin’s teleportation because the people of this world _don’t have mutants_ ; can’t, in fact, given by all its prevalent serenity. 

“Don’t… don’t panic,” Baekhyun warns carefully, before reaching inside himself and inhaling contentedly at the familiar surge of power that greets him.

“What--” Sehun cuts off as he spots the light that gathers between Baekhyun’s fingertips, white and glowing. His eyes widen comically.

“In my world--” Baekhyun bends and stretches the light in ways that no one other than somebody with this manifest could. “--we have manifests, like this--”

“Superpowers,” Sehun blurts, staring at Baekhyun.

A crude way of putting it. “--I suppose…" Sehun is still staring but his pale face does, at the very least, look convinced. Baekhyun places a quick damper over his power instinctively, not wanting to alert the RTF before realising… they probably can’t be. Not between realities. Jongdae can’t find him here.

“Okay well, you definitely couldn’t do that before, so this isn’t a prank. Wow.” Sehun looks like he may have ascended out of his body, standing up slowly and re-closing the broken door that won’t shut, keeping it in place with a stray shoe and then sitting back on the bed, zombified. “ _Wow_ , this is really hard to process. But also, surprisingly easy to process?”

Baekhyun laughs, despite himself, quiet and breathy. Sehun has always been good at making him smile.

“Yep okay, that was the quietest noise you’ve ever made in your life, you really _aren’t_ this world’s Baekhyun, huh?” Sehun is blinking at Baekhyun rapidly like maybe if he tries hard enough Baekhyun might be replaced with the proper version.

“No,” Baekhyun replies dryly, confused as to whether he’s meant to be insulted or not. Sehun is still staring.

“Okay so… how did you get here? Should that be my first question? Where’s actual Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun smiles crookedly. “I’ve been asking myself the same thing.”

 

☀

 

Hot Stranger --who introduces himself as ‘ _Jongin. I’m Jongin. You’re sure you don’t know who I am?’_ \-- just tells Baekhyun to make himself comfortable and not touch anything while they wait for 'the others' to arrive.

“How about instead of doing that I just like, go home?” Baekhyun suggests casually, still confused as to whether he’s meant to be panicked about the weirdly nice hot stranger who has seemingly kidnapped him.

“Home?” Jongin cocks his head, staring at Baekhyun for long enough that he grows uncomfortable, wrapping his arms around his middle defensively. “You don’t have…… Ugh.” Jongin slaps his own forehead. “I fucked up big time.”

“Fucked up big time? How?”

“I shouldn’t have let you slip. Jongin hits his own head over and over. “I shouldn’t have let you slip but I couldn’t hold on but then-- I swear I grabbed you, Baekhyun. I _swear_.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Baekhyun asks, then laughs nervously because his instinctual reaction to any form of panic is to make humour of it. Typical.

Jongin just looks at him with pity, then mutters, “Junmyeon is going to _kill_ me.”

“Junmyeon?” Baekhyun repeats. “What, is this like, hazing or something?” Again, he laughs nervously, even louder than the one from before. “I’ve been on the team for a whole semester already, isn’t this kinda delayed?”

Jongin stares at Baekhyun like none of the words coming out of his mouth make any sense. Maybe they don’t.

Baekhyun decides to be quiet, after that.

It takes a little while --or a long while, minutes of excruciating silence where Baekhyun just sits on the bed and fidgets, refusing to start conversation with Jongin to bother him any further and squeezing his eyes shut in hopes that it’ll all go away-- before the doors slide open like something off of _Star Trek_ and sure enough Junmyeon is in the entryway, panting, frazzled, and staring at Jongin.

“What?” he asks imploringly. “What is it? What’s the problem?”

Jongin bites his bottom lip, and points at Baekhyun on the bed, who waves at Junmyeon.

“Hi Junmyeon!” Baekhyun greets cheerily. “Literally what the fuck is going on!”

Junmyeon looks at Baekhyun with confusion, then turns back to Jongin. “What happened to Baekhyun? I thought you leaped out. Where are his clothes? Why is he--” Junmyeon assesses Baekhyun quickly. “-- _a brunette_.”

“I’ve had brown hair for ages, what the hell,” Baekhyun mutters, offended, hands raising to brush over his silver-brown bangs. If Junmyeon hated his hair so much he didn’t have to like, actually tell Baekhyun that? It’s not really Junmyeon’s place to give unsolicited opinions? “Seriously guys, what the fuck is this? Can I go home now?”

It’s at the word _home_ that Junmyeon’s attention snaps back to Baekhyun, staring at him with affronted eyes.

“Jongin,” Junmyeon says slowly, turning to Jongin with cold, concealed fury. “Where’s Baekhyun?”

“Err.” Jongin rubs behind his ear, swallowing. “Technically I think that _is_ Baekhyun. Just… not this world’s Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun stares at the two men in front of him, the rest of their conversation drowning out as Jongin’s words registers, alongside their strange outfits, littered with weapons, and the bizarre futuristic sheen to the room Baekhyun is currently in.

“Toto,” Baekhyun says aloud to no one. “I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore…”

 

☾

 

“So in your world… everything is fucked, basically,” Sehun summarises, after Baekhyun gives him a rundown of the past half a century or so of politics.

“More or less,” Baekhyun comments wryly, making Sehun hum in acknowledgement.

“No sun… no sky… no _life_? Just? Darkness and evil big brother governments? Like in _1984_?” Baekhyun doesn’t know what _1984_ is, but he nods nonetheless. Sehun lets out a large breath in muted shock. “Then what am I in your world?”

“An ally." Baekhyun hesitates. “...A friend.” Family.

“Do I have superpowers too?” There's a childish hope in Sehun's eyes, the sort of light Baekhyun hasn’t seen in a long time. It throws him off, delaying his answer.

“...Yes." He shifts in place to push away some of the discomfort. “Your manifest is the ability to control air.”

“Wind?” Sehun repeats. “You shoot lasers from your fingers and I get fucking _wind_?” He scoffs. “So glad I can control people’s farts, if nothing else. Could really use that living with your lactose intolerant ass that _insists_ on eating ice cream all the time anyway.” Baekhyun continues staring at Sehun, which seems to make him uncomfortable, Sehun quickly clearing his throat and glancing anywhere that isn’t Baekhyun. “ _Soooooo…_  Who else is in your world? What’s the same?”

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun answers, because that’s the only one he’s certain of, as of yet. “His manifest is fire.”

“Fire,” Sehun quotes. “And I still get fucking wind…” He huffs, finally looking at Baekhyun. “What about Kyungsoo? Yixing? Jongdae?”

Baekhyun winces at all three names, breathing steadily to control himself, His fingers fly to Jongdae’s pendant before he can stop himself, curling around the cool metal. It’s a bad habit he’s yet to unlearn, relying on a part of Jongdae to comfort him like that.

But it’s also a bitter reminder.

“They all exist in my world, yes,” he answers obscurely, divulging no further details. Sehun gives him a quizzical look, but doesn’t push.

“ _Ooooo-_ kay then." Sehun drums his fingertips on the mattress. “I’m still just trying to reconcile with the fact that alternate universes are real, what the fuck? Jongdae’s going to lose his shit.”

Baekhyun’s entire body tenses immediately. “You can’t tell Jongdae,” he snaps harshly, causing Sehun to look a little affronted.

“...Why not?” His face pinches in confusion. “He’s this world’s Baekhyun’s best friend, you can’t avoid him forever or he’ll get suspicious.”

Baekhyun shivers at the thought. “You can’t tell Jongdae,” he repeats firmly. “You can’t let him near me.”

“What? _Why_? Will that like, break the universe or something?”

“No,” Baekhyun replies. This isn’t a matter of time travel, so much as it is Jongin being a piece of shit. Baekhyun is _so_ going to kick his ass when he gets back… _if_ he gets back…

Silence persists; Sehun evidently has more burning questions as he attempts to take in the reality of this situation, but he’s thrown off by Baekhyun’s refusal to answer any of them, mouth pinched in a straight line.

There’s one thing Baekhyun is desperate to know, though, eyes wandering to the framed photo his other self keeps of him and Jongdae on the nightstand.

“In this world…” Baekhyun begins slowly, warily, knowing he’s walking on thin ice but refusing to stop. He has to know, it itches inside of him and he needs it scratched. “...What is Jongdae, to me?”

“Jongdae?” Sehun repeats, looking at Baekhyun in confusion. “Like I said he’s uh, your best friend. You guys have known each other since forever, he’s--” Sehun clears his throat. “--also the love of your life.”

All three of those statements could have been applied to Baekhyun’s world, except--

“We’re together?” Baekhyun questions, and wonders why his gut rolls at the thought, almost as if in jealousy. Ha.

“Oh _god_ no.” Sehun snorts at the suggestion, like it’s that amusing to him. “You refuse to confess because ‘ _Jongdae’s straight_ ’ and you don’t want to _‘ruin the friendship_ ’.” Sehun mocks him in a high-pitched tone Baekhyun takes to be his other’s self voice.

“But we’re still…. Friends?” Baekhyun repeats slowly. “It’s… amicable? Our relationship?”

“Uh, _yeah._ ” Sehun arches an eyebrow. “Amicable is kinda an understatement. You guys are like--” He raises his fingers, twined together. to demonstrate, and Baekhyun’s stomach sinks, exhaling shakily. So in this world, everything is different, other than the fact that Baekhyun is in love with Jongdae.

 _Except_ that in this world, Jongdae didn’t stab Baekhyun in the back and kill his closest friend for the government’s mutant-hunting task force. Great.

In fact, if anything, this Jongdae seems to be relatively harmless, other than the inevitable heart stress he presumably puts this world’s Baekhyun under. It’s unbelievable. In Baekhyun’s world, he and Jongdae never got anything close to happiness, and in this world, they’re denying it from each other out of fear of nothing. Ridiculous.

“Are you… in love with the Jongdae in your world?” Sehun asks, startling Baekhyun. “I mean uh. You’re not-- you’re not the Baekhyun I’m used to but. You guys have the same lovesick expression. It’s really gross.”

Baekhyun has a lovesick expression? He had no idea.

“I _was_ in love with Jongdae,” Baekhyun admits, something he’s never once voiced aloud in his own world, of course. Not even to Jongdae back when they were still technically in love --it had always been too dangerous. But in this world it’s easy to, safe enough too, there are no consequences because of it, and part of him still clings onto the comforts of Sehun from his world that this one recreates, the kind that would know Baekhyun loves -- _loved_ \-- Jongdae whether Baekhyun says it aloud or not. “But then he turned against his own kind for power and greed.”

“Woah woah woah, wait, slow down.” Sehun holds up his hands. “When you say turned against his own kind you mean-- Jongdae is a mutant too, right? And he what? Joined that… Red… Force, or whatever?”

“The Red Task Force,” Baekhyun corrects. “And yes. Mutants under their rankings are promised not to be persecuted. Now, Jongdae hunts us to persecute us.”

Sehun just starts laughing.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry just--” He wheezes a little. “Jongdae is? An evil traitor? Jongdae. Kim.” Baekhyun nods slowly, confused as to why Sehun finds this amusing. “The Jongdae who would probably die for you if you had the guts to ask him for it. The dude who refuses to kill spiders and thinks babies are the best thing in the world. That Jongdae?”

“No,” Baekhyun replies coldly. “ _My_ Jongdae.”

Sehun gulps at that, slumping.

“I just can’t imagine it,” he says quietly, curling into himself sheepishly. “Jongdae, being evil. That’s like… that’s like the sun not rising each morning.”

But Baekhyun can imagine it, because the sun _doesn’t_ rise in his world.

“It’s the truth,” Baekhyun says, detached. His heart aches familiarly, but that’s nothing new.

“So, if you were in love with him…” Sehun begins, then trails off. “... Oh. No wonder you’re kinda badass.” Baekhyun frowns at that; Sehun just snorts. “If this Baekhyun got his heart broken he’d probably become all emo and gothic too.”

“I am not emo nor gothic,” Baekhyun replies petulantly, frowning harder.

“Yeah, sure thing bud.” Sehun speaks in a way that tells Baekhyun he doesn’t believe him. Baekhyun doesn’t cease frowning. “So that’s why you don’t want to see Jongdae? Because you have trust issues?”

“I do _not_ have--” Baekhyun grunts in frustration, thinking that explaining that having the one good thing in your life turn his back on you doesn’t equate to trust issues so much as it does an aching, gaping void of nothingness in your chest, is kind of fruitless. The people of this world have never experienced hardship, have never felt anything close to it; this Sehun could never begin to understand. Baekhyun inhales slowly. “I do not want to see Jongdae. That is final.”

“Okay okay fine, sheesh.” Sehun huffs out a breath of air. “But like I said, Baekhyun… you can’t avoid him forever. You guys don’t spend more than an hour apart, and since your counterpart didn’t answer his phone and therefore has evidently traveled dimensions… Jongdae’s gonna notice, and he’s Jongdae --so he’ll come find you no matter what.”

The thought just makes Baekhyun’s head feel dizzy.

“Then help me avoid him,” Baekhyun urges. “I need to find a way back, I need to…” if Jongin got him here, then maybe Jongin could get him out. “ _Jongin_ ,” Baekhyun says suddenly, in realisation. “Where’s Jongin?”

Or rather, _who’s_ Jongin --in this world, at least.

“Jongin?” Sehun questions. “Who’s that?”

Is he the variable between the two universes? The one thing that doesn’t consistently exist?

Or does Sehun just not know who he is…

“The reason I’m here,” Baekhyun answers, standing up and heading towards the broken door. “We have to find him maybe... maybe there’s a chance he got put in this world too.”

They’d leaped together, after all; if Baekhyun had fallen through a hole into another dimension, then maybe Jongin did too?

But if he had… wouldn’t he have already leaped to Baekhyun and gotten them out of this mess?

The realisation that Baekhyun is completely and utterly alone in this is startling. You’d think he’d be used to soloing his burdens by now, but he isn’t.

“Wait, hang on--” Sehun urges, putting a hand on baekhyun’s shoulder to keep him in place. “--you can’t go out there, you don’t know a single thing about blending in, evidently.” He gestures to Baekhyun’s body.

Baekhyun looks down at his clothes, a black jumpsuit and navy thermal, designed to keep him warm and unseen in a world without a sun and… relents. Sehun is probably right.

“Also, as your best friend --the one you’re not in love with--” Baekhyun frowns. “--I’m like, legally obligated to make sure you don’t fuck up Baekhyun’s life while you’re taking his place. No more than he already has.”

“What?”

“That means going to his classes, acting normal--” Sehun pales. --Oh god, you’ve procrastinated every assignment since the cretaceous period. We’re screwed.”

“What’re you talking about?” Baekhyun reiterates, frustrated with this Sehun’s obscurity. _His_ Sehun is far more straight to the point, because their world doesn’t allow roundabout answers.

“Class attendance, passing university, the whole reason you’re here?” Sehun laughs dryly at Baekhyun’s bewildered expression. “Seriously, you --other you-- have already fucked up college once. He can’t afford to do it again.”

“So all I have to do is attend some classes to remain unnoticed?” Baekhyun asks. He’s never been to school, only the rich are ever given such a privilege, although he did secretly dream of it, once upon a time… “Fine,” he relents, given that Sehun is obviously adamant about the topic. “How hard can it be?”

“Oh boy.”

Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows, but they’re swiftly cut off by a knock at the door, freezing them both in place.

“Baekhyun?” A familiar voice says, and Baekhyun’s blood runs cold. “Are you in there? I swear to god if you’re sleeping in again I’ll murder you.”

It’s a pretty instinctual reaction at Jongdae’s voice for Baekhyun to tap into his power and immediately bend the light around him so he can no longer be seen, all things considered.

Sehun squeaks in surprise. “Of course,” he whispers harshly, high-pitched and nervous. “Of course you can turn invisible.”

Baekhyun pointedly pushes him, and dazedly Sehun stumbles to open the broken door while Baekhyun remains frozen, stuck in place. It swings open lamely.

“Hey, Sehun-- what happened to your door?” Jongdae asks, frowning at the lack of handle and smiling at Sehun a little crudely. He’s as beautiful as he is in Baekhyun’s world, his dark hair straighter and a little shorter, parted neatly at the top of his forehead, dressed in a large lettered jacket and sweatpants.

“Yeah it just kinda… broke…” Sehun laughs nervously. Jongdae frowns at him.

“Okay… Have you seen Baekhyun?”

“Nope.” Sehun swings the door wide open, gesturing into the room. “As you can _clearly_ see, Baekhyun isn’t here.”

Jongdae obviously finds Sehun’s strange demeanour amusing, if not a little odd, given by the quizzical quirk of his eyebrows. Baekhyun would know all of Jongdae’s expressions even across universes, it seems.

“Well, do you know where I can find him? He skipped practice again... coach is going to have his head if I don’t get it first.”

Sehun just swallows. “I think he said he was going to the library to study? I dunno.”

Jongdae sighs, running a hand through his hair. “He’s going to work himself to a burnt crisp, seriously. I don’t know why he tries to be in the team on top of school.”

“Well, you know him, always conquering everything.” Sehun’s voice is strained. “Haha.”

Baekhyun slaps an invisible hand against his own forehead.

Jongdae looks unconvinced. “Right… well if you see him, send him my way for an ass-kicking, yeah?”

Sehun smiles crookedly. “Of course.”

Jongdae leaves with a curt wave, and Sehun shuts the broken door behind him, putting the shoe door stopper back in place, exhaling in relief.

“You’re… still here, right?” Sehun asks timidly, and Baekhyun reveals himself by dampening his power, making Sehun jump and hold a hand against his chest. “Jesus Christ.”

Baekhyun has no idea who that is and why Sehun would say their name, but it doesn’t matter. Sehun sighs.

“Okay first of all, you need to wear… normal clothes." Sehun walks over to the closet and pulls out a myriad of items, all of which he tosses at Baekhyun’s chest, who catches them easily. “Second of all, no freaky superpowers in front of anyone but me, okay?” Baekhyun nods slowly. “You have class this afternoon and attendance is mandatory, so you’ll be going to that, but not before I teach you how to not be a fucking freak.” Baekhyun opens his mouth, but Sehun holds a hand up, forcing him to snap it shut. “I’ll help you find this… Jongin or whatever, okay? But you need to help _me_ keep Baekhyun’s life normal. Fair deal?”

Baekhyun nods, unsure of what else he can say. His Sehun is certainly never so chatty --albeit equally as stubborn. Baekhyun wonders if he's ever going to be able to stop drawing all the comparisons between them. He doubts it.

Sehun exhales all over again. “This really would be so much easier if we just told Jongdae, y’know? He knows everything about the other you’s life, he’d be able to help.” Baekhyun’s expression sours immediately. “Okay I get it, touchy subject just-- get changed, would you?”

Baekhyun obliges, immediately peeling off his clothes and switching into the ones Sehun had given him, as Sehun just stares at his naked body. The hoodie is soft and smells like mint, worn in and comfortable. It’s so loose-fitting Baekhyun feels like he could fit another person in there.

“What?” Baekhyun asks, because Sehun is still staring.

He opens his mouth, closes it, lips pressed together. Then, he sighs.

“I am _so_ not cut out for this."

 

☀

 

“What? You guys don’t have _The Wizard of Oz_ in your world?” Baekhyun jokes, laughing nervously. “What the fuck?”

This is a lot to process, so naturally Baekhyun isn’t, just kind of dissociating as his brain supplies an endless list of shitty jokes. Yay.

“What’s the last thing you remember before waking up here?” Junmyeon --or rather,  _this world's_ Junmyeon-- asks.

“Ummmm…” Let’s see… Baekhyun’s face scrunches as he struggles to remember. “I’d slept past my alarm so I was scrambling to get to practice on time, and then…” He juts his bottom lip out in thought. “... I just. Woke up here with a hot boy on top of me.” He shoots finger guns at Jongin.

“Did you just call me _hot_?” Jongin asks, aghast

“Did you just use _finger guns_?” Junmyeon adds, even more aghast. His skin looks ghostly. “You really aren’t our Baekhyun.”

“What? What sort of iteration of me doesn’t use finger guns?” Who even _is_ Baekhyun if not an amalgamation of ways to make awkward situations humorous?

“The one from this world, I guess,” Jongin answers noncommittally, rubbing behind his ear. “You’re... taking this surprisingly well. Is it common, where you’re from?”

He almost looks a little hopeful, like Baekhyun himself might be able to fix this mess.

“Um, not really, I just read a lot of comics and dissociate in times of panic,” Baekhyun replies matter-of-factly, wringing his hands together nervously. Anxiety is good like that, sometimes, filling him with so much adrenaline in a new situation he’s almost too wired to actually be panicked about it.

“Comics?” Jongin tilts his head to the side.

“Yeah y’know like. If Batman can handle a version of him dressed like an owl and evil, I guess I can come to terms with the fact that there’s a me out there that doesn’t use finger guns.” Blank looks on both Jongin’s and Junmyeon’s faces. “You guys… have no idea what I’m talking about, do you.” It’s not a question, not really, but Jongin and Junmyeon both nod slowly in confirmation, exchanging concerned glances. “Wait-- am I evil in this world? Am I Batman and the other me from this place is Owlman?”

“What _are_ you talking about?” Junmyeon asks, completely exasperated.

“The you of this world isn’t evil.” Jongin frowns. “You’re one of the only good things left.”

Baekhyun blinks at that, taken aback. It’s reassuring to hear in a way, because yay for good guys, but the implication that he’s one of the _only_ good guys is...

“Then again you’re not exactly all sunshine and rainbows.” Jongin snorts while Junmyeon gives him a dirty look. Baekhyun can live with his other self being a little gloomy so long as he’s not evil, he supposes.

“How did this happen, Jongin?” Junmyeon sighs, apparently done entertaining Baekhyun’s comic book theories.

“He slipped,” Jongin explains, biting his lip. “Err, well, actually it felt more like Baekhyun… let go?” He rubs his shoulder sheepishly. “I swear I reached back in to grab him, but--” he turns to Baekhyun. “--I’m guessing I grabbed the wrong one.”

“What,” Baekhyun starts, “the actual fuck are you talking about?”

Jongin grunts in momentary frustration. “I can teleport,” he says, as if that’s just information Baekhyun should take first hand without question. “It involves slipping into the gaps between realities and using the warped space-time continuum--”

“Jongin,” Junmyeon scolds, having seen the vacant expression Baekhyun has no doubt he’d been wearing.

“--basically Baekhyun --er, the one that’s not you-- was leaping with me. Since he let go of me mid-leap, though, he must have fallen further into the space between realities.”

“What?” Baekhyun blinks, trying to make sense of the words he’s hearing. No wonder this world doesn’t have superheroes if people here _are_ superheroes. Teleportation? That’s fucking _awesome_. “Then… what happened to the me you lost?”

“The continuum was upset. Unbalanced,” Jongin continues, hand under his chin as his eyebrows pinch in thought. “So... when he slipped away, it must have taken out you to fill his space, and he must've filled yours.”

The actual fuck.

“So… gloomy me is currently where I’m supposed to be?” 

“That’s right,” Junmyeon confirms.

“Fuck me,” Baekhyun remarks, exhaling slowly as he stares into space. His eyes widen in realisation. “Jongdae is going to _kill_ me for skipping practice to go alternate reality jumping.” He quickly adds, “Especially without him.”

It seems to have had the effect of flooding the room with ice water, as Jongin and Junmyeon stare at Baekhyun like he’s grown a second head. “What?” 

Jongin and Junmyeon exchange a glance, communicating wordlessly in a way Baekhyun doesn’t understand.

“Nothing,” Junmyeon quickly answers, forced enough that Baekhyun knows there’s something. Junmyeon clears his throat. “How exactly did it pull somebody out of their dimension if you’re not touching them?” he asks, directed at Jongin.

“I don’t know, it’s the void. The will of the universe.” Jongin snorts crudely. “It doesn’t exactly follow logic. I try not to interact with it as a principle beyond travelling through but…” he and Junmyeon turn to Baekhyun simultaneously.

“How come I don’t remember entering a giant hole between realities, then?” Baekhyun questions. One second he’d been cutting through north court gardens to get to the football field on time,  the next he’d woken up here, without ever having fallen asleep to begin with.

“Your mind can’t comprehend it. Took my brain ages to adjust before I could remember what I was doing between leaps.”

“...Huh,” Baekhyun says, because he’s pretty sure his mind can’t comprehend any of this, but he doesn’t say that. “So does… other… me have superpowers too?”

Junmyeon’s face twists at his choice of words. “Yes, your --our Baekhyun’s-- manifest is light.”

“It’s one of the most powerful mutations ever recorded,” Jongin adds. “Which is why I have to leap with him all over the place to keep him from the RTF.” He gives a dry snort.

“RTF?” 

“Red Task Force,” Jongin supplies. “Government division of mutant hunters. We’re generally pretty hated by society, so.”

Oh, not superheroes then. Vigilantes, maybe. “Uh. That... sucks? I’m sorry,” Baekhyun offers, because he’s not sure what else to say. Jongin and Junmyeon just look at him like he’s grown a _third_ head.

“...Right, well, on top of kind of being one of the most powerful mutants around, you’re also a key player in the rebellion,” Junmyeon explains.

“A rebellion that’s currently coming to fruition…” Jongin mumbles, then pales. “Oh god, without Baekhyun, how are we meant to get inside the city walls? How are we meant to get inside the Vault?”

“I don’t know.” Junmyeon grimaces, looking suddenly saddened. “But if we don’t get those orbs back before Eclipse…”

“Then we’re all screwed,” Jongin concludes, falling back against the wall.

“Ummmmmm you lost me,” Baekhyun cuts in, blinking rapidly. “Orbs? Eclipse?”

“They have-- ways of extracting our powers,” Junmyeon explains. “Taking the power source from us, and storing them in these… orbs.”

“O-gene Restriction Blockage and Storage units,” Jongin adds. “Most of our allies have had their powers taken." He shifts in place, almost guiltily. “Just because I couldn’t get to them in time.”

“It’s not your fault,” Junmyeon reassures gently, placing a hand on Jongin’s shoulder, who relaxes under the touch. He looks a little sad and far-off, and Jongin looks riddled with guilt, so Baekhyun wonders if Junmyeon is one of the people missing his powers. Junmyeon turns back to Baekhyun. “Eclipse signifies the dawn of a new era. The changing of governments.”

“Um, that’s a dramatic way to refer to an election."

“There wasn’t an election.” Jongin frowns. “The RTF destroyed the reigning government subdivision in a coup. Eclipse is when their new cabinet will finally be put into official effect.”

“And until then, the city is weakened. Haphazard after the coup,” Junmyeon continues. “It’s the perfect time to overthrow them and save as many mutants as possible.”

“... Until now,” Baekhyun finishes for them. “Because I’m here instead of the Baekhyun you need.” He can’t say he’s not used to being generally useless and a burden on everyone, but it still kinda sucks even across dimensions. Baekhyun sighs.

“In a world where everyone is watched,” Junmyeon starts slowly. “A man with the ability to be invisible is incredibly powerful.”

“And incredibly dangerous,” Jongin adds. “We needed Baekhyun to get mutants in and out of the city walls and past the cameras… but more than that, we needed him to get inside the Red Vault and steal those orbs. Without him to get through the security unnoticed… there’s just no way.”

“But you can teleport.” Baekhyun's face scrunches together in confusion. His head hurts, the sort of pain he used to get in physics class back in high school before Jongdae would sit down and patiently go over every concept until Baekhyun understood a bit better. God Baekhyun could really use Jongdae right now, just his presence is soothing enough in and of itself. “Just like. Pop in and grab ‘em?”

Jongin shakes his head solemnly. “I can only teleport to places where I have an anchor,” he explains, holding up a small, rough, cheap wooden carving of a bear not much bigger than a pinky fingernail, then pointing to a similar one sitting on the table in the far corner of the room. Cute. “Part of the plan was having Baekhyun plant them throughout the Red Vault.”

“Jongin,” Junmyeon says sternly.

“What?” Jongin asks, pointing. “He’s still Baekhyun.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s trustworthy,” Junmyeon replies pointedly as Baekhyun withers a little. “We know nothing about him. Who’s to say he won’t turn us in?”

“Well, for starters, I have no idea how to,” Baekhyun jokes, but it doesn’t fly too well considering the expression on Junmyeon and Jongin’s faces. Seriously, he doesn’t even know where he is right now. How does one turn in an entire rebellion? Is there like a hotline number? “And um-- I have no reason to? I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m kind of stranded in an alternate dimension and literally the only face I recognise is yours.” He points at Junmyeon. “I’m not very keen on finding out how many I don’t know, or turning against you for… any reason, in a world where I don’t even exist that has an evil government that will probably want to dissect me.” He slumps lamely.

“He has a point,” Jongin tells Junmyeon, who just sighs.

“Look, I’m not saying I _don’t_ trust you,” Junmyeon relents. “But the RTF still has… ways of making you say things, if they catch you.”

An obscure way to refer to torture, but Baekhyun nods shakily in understanding.

“That’s cool, you guys keep your secrets then.” He clears his throat hastily, voice still wobbling no matter what he does. “I’m kind of more interested in getting home? Or just like. Anywhere in my own dimension would be a start.” Dump him in the middle of the Savannah for all Baekhyun cares, so long as he’s somewhere on earth it’s bound to be better than this. “Also the sooner I’m home, the sooner you can have awesome world-saving invisible man Baekhyun back, so.”

“It’s not that simple.” Jongin sighs. “I have no idea how to travel between dimensions _or_ to swap you back and even if I did, it’d take a whole lot of energy I don’t have right now after the leap that got us here.”

“Well then after you’ve slept or whatever,” Baekhyun says, waving his hands dismissively. “Just? Reach into the void again?”

Jongin’s face twists uncomfortably. “I told you, I don’t interact with the void as a principle. Reaching between layers of realities in search of Baekhyun might just start a chain reaction of alternate Baekhyuns swapping with each other, or could just leave a hole in the entire space-time continuum. I can’t risk that.”

Baekhyun swallows. “Then how am I meant to get home?”

Jongin and Junmyeon exchange a nervous glance. “We’ll find a way,” Junmyeon assures. “I promise.”

“If there’s a way to get you here, there’s a way to put you back,” Jongin says quietly. “It just-- it will take some time for me to work it out. I hardly understand my manifest as is.”

Baekhyun nods slowly, a little dazed.

“Are there… are there people we should tell about what happened?” Baekhyun suggests. “Like um, my parents or something?”

“You’re an orphan in this world, Baekhyun,” Junmyeon says softly. “Sorry.”

“Most of us are,” Jongin adds. “Ever since the war…”

Oh. It’s a sad thought, but a strange feeling too --Baekhyun finds himself partially mourning his parents, and partially mourning the life other him never got to have. God he feels terrible, lightheaded and dizzy and still a little nauseous, truth be told, and Baekhyun doesn’t even realise he’s hyperventilating until he hears his breaths coming in too short and forces himself to slow them down. He can almost feel Jongdae’s hands on his shoulders, his face in front of Baekhyun, telling him _in and out, Hyun. In and out_.

Baekhyun’s heart sinks, he misses Jongdae so much, it’s almost kind of weird, but Baekhyun is scared and alone and he’s pretty good at being neither of those two things when he has Jongdae with him. Fuck, is he going to be stuck in this mutant hating world for the rest of his life? Miserable and lonely?

“What about Jongdae? Does he exist in this world?” Baekhyun asks, and there it is, the ice water effect, confirming that yes, he probably does. “Can I see him?” Baekhyun is so desperate for any form of comfort he’ll take even the shitty, edgy version so long as it’s just some form of familiarity in a sea of bizarreness.

“Err,” Jongin says, clearing his throat. “Not quite.”

“...Is he dead?” 

“No,” Junmyeon sighs, as if it’s a bad thing. “Unfortunately not.”

Baekhyun’s eyebrows scrunch. “What?”

“Maybe we should take him to Sehun,” Jongin suggests to Junmyeon, casting Baekhyun a wary look. “I feel like he might be able to explain things better.”

“You’re probably right.” Junmyeon’s body relaxes. “Also because I refuse to do it,” he mumbles.

“Sehun exists in this world too?” Baekhyun asks. At least if he gets home, he’s going to have some _awesome_ things to tell all his friends about. He perks up hopefully. “Sehun’s good. I’m good with Sehun. Sehun works.” If he can’t get his parents or Jongdae, then his other best friend is definitely his second choice.

“I can take you to him now,” Junmyeon suggests, as Baekhyun nods vigorously. He gives Baekhyun a once-over. “But you… may want to get changed.”

Baekhyun looks down at his ratty naruto pyjama tee and sweatpants, flushing as he realises he’s in his workout gear for practice. Jongin leaves through the Star Trek door and comes back in with a bundle of clothes that he hands to Baekhyun, who fumbles with the pile, one of the thermal skins dropping.

He lays them out on the bed, then stares at Junmyeon and Jongin, who are simply watching him.

“Um,” Baekhyun starts awkwardly. “Some privacy would be nice?”

“What?” Jongin asks, looking bewildered, then blinks. “Err. Sure.”

“We’ll just be right outside,” Junmyeon adds quietly as he and Jongin leave the room, looking perplexed. Baekhyun exhales as soon as they’re gone, trying to make sense of the strange dark clothes Jongin had handed him. It takes a while to work out which body part goes through which hole and in which order, but Baekhyun eventually gets it, transferring the contents of his pockets --phone, which he switches off to conserve precious power, figuring no one in an alternate dimension will have an iPhone 5 charger around, wallet, keys-- across. The clothes are way too big and bunch up at the ends as they stick to his skin, warm and uncomfortable. They’re probably Jongin’s clothes, if Baekhyun could harbor a guess, and they feel like a poignant reminder that Baekhyun has really stepped into something bigger than himself.

But at least it isn’t permanent, he consoles with himself.

Or so Baekhyun hopes.

 

☾

 

Baekhyun is going to kill Sehun.

That’s the first thing Baekhyun decides, blinking at the projector in front of him and trying to make sense of the words it’s showing. Baekhyun, unlike Jongdae, has never felt any inclination to murder his friends, but Sehun’s lack of warning and insistence that Baekhyun attend this class is currently putting him through hell, so maybe Baekhyun really will turn out just like Jongdae.

And god, the thought makes him blink. Baekhyun has never made a _joke_ out of Jongdae’s betrayal before.

He shakes the thought away, refocusing on this… professor’s voice, and wondering how he’s meant to understand any of this. So many numbers and figures and things that don’t make sense… why would Baekhyun ever need to double differentiate (whatever that means) the sin of an unknown angle (whatever _that_ means) in a triangle. Literally what use does that have for him who, according to Sehun, was studying to be an architect. Baekhyun doesn’t get it, but any far-off dreams he’d once had about going to school have quickly been quashed.

No wonder his other-self struggled with this stuff.

And struggling with this stuff had apparently meant dropping out for two years to try and pull himself together, as Sehun had explained, although not in great detail beyond that. Baekhyun can’t really imagine himself giving up on anything, but after one hour of this stupid two hour class, he’s ready to quit life altogether.

It finally ends, and Baekhyun sighs in relief, rubbing at his temple because his head is positively pounding _._  It had been more excruciating then any sort of pain Jongdae had put him under during battle before Jongin could save him, and Baekhyun thinks he could almost single-handedly reform the RTF to be even more powerful and menacing if he taught them the benefits of lecturing their prisoners on mathematics. God.

He walks out pale and a little shaken, gripping his books and mentally summoning the image of the map of campus Sehun had brought up on a laptop to show Baekhyun how to get around. Years of blueprints and recent weeks memorising the layout of the Red Vault ensure Baekhyun had almost instant recall when it comes to directions, but this campus is big, and after being destroyed by geometry 3 it’s hard to remember if the dorms he’s looking for are east or west.

“Hey, Baekhyun, wait up!” Baekhyun startles at the sound of the familiar voice, turning to see Yixing and just. Staring at him. Baekhyun hasn’t seen Yixing in months, and the sight of him in this world wearing a loose-fitting green jacket with blonde wavy hair makes Baekhyun’s chest cave in on itself.

“Yixing…” Baekhyun says slowly, and feels a deep sadness well up in his chest. The Yixing of his world has been imprisoned and powerless and lost for over a year, seeing the one of this world just seems like a pointed reminder of Baekhyun’s failures.

Yixing gives him an amused look. “Who else?” he asks, bumping their shoulders together. “I can’t believe you didn’t sit next to me when you came in. You just walked straight past me.”

Mostly because Baekhyun had been instructed to keep quiet, keep his head down, and talk to no one.

“I didn’t see you,” Baekhyun tells Yixing, but he still looks like he’s waiting for more. “... Sorry...?”

“I was sitting where we always sit,” Yixing replies amusedly, then shrugs. “But it’s okay. Man, I didn’t understand a single thing though.”

Baekhyun grimaces. “That makes two of us.”

Yixing laughs, although Baekhyun doesn’t get the joke, and the sound of it makes Baekhyun soften. When was the last time he heard Yixing laugh like that? Baekhyun could barely remember the last time he’d heard _anybody_ laugh like that, not since Jongdae left. The weight of the world on your shoulders and stab wounds in your back tend to take away things like that.

“We could revise this Thursday, maybe?” Yixing suggests. It’s only a Monday today, not that Baekhyun understands this world’s incessant need to tell the time. In his world, there are only hours and days, but they’re not differentiated from each other by useless names. It must be a ‘we actually have a sun’ thing. “Before the test.”

Baekhyun stares at Yixing, and realises this seems to make him uncomfortable, quickly looking away.

“The test?” 

“Yeah, y’know. The quiz we have every four weeks…” Yixing gives Baekhyun an amused glance again. “Did you hit your head? You’re usually the one that insists we study to stay on top of things, even though they’re like... Two-percent of our grade.”

Baekhyun blinks. “I’ve been sick recently,” he excuses lamely as Sehun had instructed, avoiding Yixing’s eyes because he’s always been terrible at lying to Yixing. Another thing that holds up across dimensions, it seems. “Hard to…” what did Yixing say? “...stay on top of things.”

“Oh, well, feel better soon!” Yixing replies cheerily, placing a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder, then jabbing his thumb the other way down the hallway. “I gotta go to my next class but. How about we meet up Thursday at the library say… five?”

Baekhyun nods dumbly, afraid to do much else, and then walks down the hallway with his head down hoping no other duplicates from his world decide to stop and say hi; he’s not sure how he’s meant to deal with it. Other than the fact that he endures the pain of mathematics, the other Baekhyun seems to live such an easy life, filled with nothing but friends and laughter, no burden of saving his people on his shoulders, no threat waiting behind every corner. The sort of life Baekhyun has never even been able to imagine.

And it makes his stomach coil, in jealousy, partly, and in shame. There’s a small part of Baekhyun that almost never wants to go back if it means he can stay in this peaceful world, where nobody looks at him like he’s their chance at salvation and he’s not kept awake at night wondering when Jongdae is going to track him down again and kill him. And that’s a horrible feeling, subsequently, because Baekhyun has essentially run away, and he can’t abandon his friends like that.

Not that he’d run away by choice, but maybe choosing to stay is its own sort of running.

Not that-- not that Baekhyun _is_ choosing to stay, because he needs to find Jongin and fast, but Sehun had promised to help him with that.

It takes a decent half an hour before Baekhyun can locate his dorms, getting lost on campus several times and pointedly walking back to a map he’d found pasted on a steel board on one of the paths each time to try and work it out. Eventually he gets back to the broken door, swinging it open, and collapses on the other him’s bed face first with a grunt.

“Yeah, geometry be like that,” Sehun offers apathetically from where he’s sitting at his desk, licking his fingers before turning the page of the textbook in front of him.

“Why didn’t you tell me I was walking into hell?” Baekhyun snaps as he pulls his head up, irritated.

“Because I’m a piece of shit,” Sehun answers matter-of-factly, although he’s grinning, which suggests it’s some form of joke or tease. Baekhyun doesn’t know, grunting all over again as he slams his face back into the pillow. “‘ _How hard can it be?’_ ” Sehun mocks, in what Baekhyun assumes to be an imitation of his voice.

“Shut it,” Baekhyun hisses, scowling. Usually that would have the Sehun of his world apologetic and wary, but this Sehun just seems indifferent.

“What? Would the other me really miss out on an opportunity to say ‘I told you so’?”

“Not… exactly…” Baekhyun is slowly coming to realise that both Sehun’s have an odd amount of similarities. “But he’s certainly less obnoxious about it.”

Sehun just grins like he’s been complimented, and Baekhyun realises one thing he can say about this world is that everyone is seriously _twisted._

“Well, anyway, I looked into that Jongin kid and found like… fucking nothing,” Sehun admits. “No facebook, no instagram or anything. He either doesn’t exist in this world, or he’s a cryptid.” Baekhyun doesn’t know what any of those things mean, but he nods anyway. He already feels like he’s been reminded by the universe enough today that he’s an inferior idiot no thanks to differential geometry, he’s not keen on having Sehun remind him too. “But I checked the dorm registry, and found he lives in this building. His roommate said he’d been acting weird all day and spending all his time at the arcade.”

“Acting weird?” Baekhyun echoes, and sits up straighter in something that almost feels like hope.

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.” Sehun snorts and picks up his books. “We can go in a sec, once I finish my readings. How did blending in work out for you, anyway?”

“Fine,” Baekhyun replies, a little snide at Sehun’s accusatory tone, as if pretending to ‘not be a freak’ is difficult. On the contrary, Baekhyun’s whole life kind of revolves around making illusions --both with his manifest and both with the persona of bravery he wears around his fellow mutants-- this one is no different. Blending in doesn't seem to be difficult, but geometry definitely is. “Yixing even invited me to study with him on Thursday.”

“What?” Sehun asks quickly. “You can’t study with Yixing on Thursday, Thursday is Jongdae day.”

Baekhyun gives an insufferable look, tired of his other self’s stupid schedule. “It’s _what?_ ”

“Jongdae day,” Sehun reiterates, standing and moving to a small stand-up calendar on Baekhyun’s desk, gesturing to the way that each date underneath the _THURS_ column has a small face shaped like _('-ω-’)_ on it, as if that’s meant to have significance. “Every Thursday you guys are insistent about hanging out, since college likes to keep you apart. You could be in a fucking coma and Jongdae would still come visit your hospital bed on a Thursday to make you rewatch superhero movies with him.”

Like most things relating to the Jongdae of this world, Baekhyun’s heart hurts, withering into a small shrivelled lump and then rearing its ugly head. The Baekhyun of this world gets to be happy with Jongdae, and perhaps that’s the part that angers Baekhyun the most.

“If you skip out on a Thursday, Jongdae’s gonna know something’s up, and then he’ll track you down no matter what.”

“Fine.” Baekhyun shrugs. Not like Jongdae hunting him constantly is any different to what Baekhyun is used to, at least in this world Jongdae won’t try to kill him once he’s found. Hopefully. (Then again, he did say he wanted Baekhyun’s head, although the people of this world seem to say a lot of statements they don’t actually mean.) “He can enjoy trying to find someone who can turn invisible.”

Sehun stares at him. “Oh my god,” he says. “Was that statement almost… _humorous?_ ”

Baekhyun gives him a flat look.

“No, it’s the truth.”

“No no no,” Sehun insists. “I almost laughed. It was kind of funny.”

Baekhyun frowns at him. “I’ve never made a joke in my life.”

“Oh my god that was another joke.” Sehun sounds completely amazed. Baekhyun rolls his eyes, although feels his lips quirk up slightly. “I can’t believe it!”

“Are you done with your reading yet?” he asks, instead of humouring Sehun any further. Baekhyun has only been here for half a day and already this universe’s light is simply… contagious. It’s strange, not having to worry about glancing over his shoulder every three seconds, it’s like a weight has been pulled off his chest. One he hadn’t even realised was there.

Sehun waves his hands. “Nearly. Promise.” He smiles. “Good to know you’re as pushy and stubborn in both worlds.”

Baekhyun throws a pillow at his head.

 

☀

 

Baekhyun is going to die here.

That’s the first thing he realises, as Junmyeon and Jongin lead him outside the strange safehouse and into the snow and darkness. It’s cold, it’s gloomy, it’s pitch black, and it’s begging for Baekhyun’s seasonal depression to kick in on top of his anxiety. Great. Exactly what he needs right now.

And to think it’s fall back in his home world. Baekhyun sighs.

“Why didn’t you just teleport us straight to the main hub?” he asks Jongin, repeating their lingo, who he finds somewhat more approachable than Junmyeon, unsure if that’s because he’s thrown off by the dissonance caused from knowing the Junmyeon back in his world, or if it’s because Jongin is simply easier to talk to in a reality that seems it forges its people out of coldness and bitterness, just like its weather.

“When mutants use their manifests, we emit a strong bio-electromagnetic pulse from our internal power source,” Jongin begins explaining. “The RTF has a way of detecting that, and tracing it back to our location.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen. So many big words. “Woah.”

“I have to leap away from the hub to not alert them to our location,” Jongin adds. “Jong-- the RTF knows my pulse well, and won’t bother tracking me down because they know I’ll leap away.”

“No wonder it’s hard for you to beat them,” Baekhyun mumbles. “They must feel any attack coming before you’re even there, right?”

“Right,” Jongin agrees. “They’re… especially attuned to Baekhyun’s pulse. Maybe more than any other mutant in the world. Anytime he activates his powers, they know, and they adjust for it.”

It’s a lot to take in, and Baekhyun can almost feel the desperation sink into his body alongside theirs, and he’s not even technically a part of this great big battle. Or maybe he is. Will Baekhyun be persecuted for his other self’s actions, even though he’s not a mutant?

It’s a worrying thought, and he gulps nervously, pushing himself closer to Jongin just to feel a little more warmth in the darkness. He can make out an odd look of surprise on Jongin’s face through the grey shadows, but he covers it up quickly. Something tells Baekhyun his other self isn’t exactly the touchy clingy type. Ah, what Baekhyun would give to be emotionally independent. It’s nice to know he’s capable of it in at least one universe.

“So… how would a surprise attack work, then?” Baekhyun asks, instead of succumbing to the shadows creeping even into his thoughts. Talking is good, keeps him distracted, there’s an odd morbid sort of curiosity he has about this whole world, despite everything. “If they always know when I --the other I. Um. Other Baekhyun is using his powers?”

“Activate enough manifests and it overloads their sensors. We can hide Baekhyun’s amongst the interference.”

“But won’t they realise it’s just a distraction?”

Jongin shakes his head. “Not if it’s disguised well enough.” He gives a tiny, almost animalistic grin at that, and Baekhyun gulps. Oh.

The main hub, home to every wayward mutant --or so Baekhyun gathers-- is, like most other things in this world: gloomy, a giant metal warehouse covered in snow. Inside, the lights flicker and it smells damp, there’s no heating, but Baekhyun can spot ten, maybe twenty bodies all huddled together, talking in low voices, all wearing the same dark, thick clothing Baekhyun adorns.

“Junmyeon,” somebody says suddenly, standing up, and Baekhyun is surprised to see Chanyeol with red hair and a stern expression. “You’re back.”

Junmyeon nods. “Our safehouse inside the the eighth sector was compromised.”

“Another inner city location?” It’s fucking Soojung from Baekhyun’s Roman Empire class, the extremely hot girl he’s pretty sure doesn’t know his name even though they’d had a group project together last semester. Baekhyun’s jaw drops open. “How many do we have left?”

Junmyeon’s face looks grim. “Not many,” he admits quietly, and Baekhyun feels the way dark shadows begin to hang over the room, shivering. “But Baekhyun is safe, at least.”

“Technically,” Jongin mutters. Baekhyun has a feeling they’re not talking about him specifically.

“Did you manage to get the core?” Chanyeol asks, this time looking at Baekhyun with wide, hopeful eyes.

“Ummmmmmmm,” Baekhyun stalls, high-pitched, frantically looking to Jongin and Junmyeon for help.

“He did,” Jongin confirms, and Baekhyun blinks. He did? “We have it here.”

At that he pulls a strange round metal device out of his pocket, glowing a soft green like something from a movie, the sort of shit only Tony Stark ever builds.

“ _Awesome_ ,” Baekhyun blurts, because he can’t help himself. Chanyeol and Soojung both shoot him a strange look.

Chanyeol breathes out slowly, hopefulness filling his frame as he inhales. “So now all we need is for Baekhyun to finally get in and drop an anchor to get the orbs back, right?”

“It’s not that simple,” Junmyeon replies, mouth pressed together. “Without that safehouse we have no way into the inner city since they destroyed Jongin’s anchor, and there are…” Junmyeon pointedly looks at Baekhyun. “...other complications.”

“Other complications?” Chanyeol parrots. “Like what?”

“Not here,” Junmyeon mutters, low enough that the tens of unabashed eyes in the room farther away won’t hear. Chanyeol looks worried, but nods all the same.

“Get Sehun,” Junmyeon tells Jongin, then grabs Baekhyun suddenly enough that he squeaks when he does so, roughly being pulled into a room upstairs. He’s pretty sure he catches a few questioning glances sent his way, but he’s not sure if that’s because of the embarrassing noise or Junmyeon’s hand around his wrist.

“What’s going on?” Chanyeol asks as soon as he enters, Jongin, Sehun, Soojung and Seungwan --one of Jongdae’s friends from the science society-- in tow. Baekhyun stares at her longer than necessary; is there anyone in this world that isn’t a duplicate?

“Other complications,” Junmyeon repeats dryly, tugging Baekhyun forward.

“Hi,” Baekhyun says sheepishly, waving.

The silence is tangible.

“... What the fuck happened to him?” Soojung asks. “Jongdae zap him one too many times?”

“Huh?” Baekhyun looks back at Jongin. “Why would Jongdae zap me? Zap me with _what_?”

Jongin grimaces. “I made a mistake,” he states cleanly.

As Jongin explains how awesome ass-kicking Baekhyun got replaced by useless anxiety-ridden Baekhyun who had to drop out of uni for two years because he couldn’t handle anything, apparently, Baekhyun zones out and tries to make sense of the familiar faces in front of him, a game of spot the difference. Other than hair colour and a few scars here or there, it’s next to impossible; this world really is a mirror image, at the surface level, at least…

“What the fuck?” Chanyeol remarks, which is a pretty appropriate response. “Then get Baekhyun back and _him_ \--” he points at Baekhyun, who feels uncomfortable under the negative attention. “--out of here.”

“It’s not that simple,” Jongin replies exhaustedly, evidently tired of repeating the fact.

“How is it not that simple?” Chanyeol snaps, gesturing angrily to Baekhyun. “Without Baekhyun we’re fucking screwed _._ And this-- _mistake_ won’t help!”

Baekhyun doesn’t know what it is that cracks him so badly, but suddenly that hole in his chest opens up and everything feels hopeless and having one of his own friends--or rather, a mirror copy of one-- call him a mistake, doesn’t help. Baekhyun tells that to himself enough as is.

He can feel tears springing to his eyes, so it’s only Baekhyun’s rampant fears of showing explicit weakness that force him to storm out of the room, running down the stairs and outside of the hub into the cold darkness. It’s just fucking depressing, to sniffle and look up at a pitch black sky, thickened by clouds. At least it’s snowing, but even that’s black too.

It sucks. Baekhyun wants to go home, but he’s not sure how to get there and if he’ll ever be able to. The amount of sudden despair is breaking him. He curls up in the dirty snow, leaning against the hub wall away from the light spilling through the large doors. He hears footsteps, eventually, crunching through gravel and ice, and he jumps when he finds Sehun looking down at him, frowning.

“Oh, hey dude,” Baekhyun greets, sniffling lamely as he wipes his nose on the back of his hand. “You can go back inside to discuss important mutant things, y’know. I’m just…” he gestures to all the snow. “Chillin’.” Literally.

Ha.

Sehun sits down next to him, and Baekhyun relaxes at the familiar press of a bony shoulder against his own. Fuck, the carbon copies even feel the same, and it causes a weird clash in Baekhyun’s chest, instinct to slump on Sehun versus the logic that tells him this Sehun is very much a stranger.

“Are you okay?” This world’s Sehun asks, oddly soft-spoken, compared to Baekhyun’s usual.

“Yeah I’m fine,” Baekhyun lies, and Sehun gives him a pointed look that tells Baekhyun he probably doesn’t believe him. “Okay so I’m not fine, but I woke up in an alternate dimension where everything sucks and me being here ruins lives. Am I meant to be fine?”

“No.” Sehun at least smiles at that as he cranes his neck to the sky. “I guess not.”

Silence passes between them, and although it’s pretty comfortable, Baekhyun --being himself-- still itches to break it. “So we’re… friends in this world too, you and I?”

Sehun nods. “Yes.” Talkative bunch these mutants, huh?

“In my world we’re roommates,” Baekhyun adds helpfully, just to fill the quiet. He wrinkles his nose when a dirty snowflake lands on it. Sehun looks a little perplexed. “It’s like friends but in hard mode because if you can actually stand living together then you’re probably platonic soulmates.”

Sehun just chuckles, an oddly bizarre sound, coming from someone Baekhyun has never in his life once heard chuckle. “You truly aren’t our Baekhyun.”

“Great observation,” Baekhyun remarks dryly, and finds himself smiling when Sehun rolls his eyes and bumps their shoulders together comfortably. It’s… relaxing, Sehun is the most familiar face yet, and this Sehun seems to have the same sort of emotional sensitivity Baekhyun’s Sehun back home does.

“Don’t let it get to you,” Sehun says suddenly, stunning Baekhyun. “What the others say. They’re… stressed, in the midst of a mutant war, and worried for our friend.”

“I get it,” Baekhyun replies, because he does, really, but intense self-loathing is a bitch, and _he’s_ kind of stressed about this too, but nobody seems to particularly care about that fact; other than this Sehun, maybe. Plus Jongin. “I just-- I want to go home. Your world is kind of depressing.”

“What’s your universe like?” Sehun asks, and Baekhyun soon finds himself rambling in his descriptions, drawing comparisons, and it's kind of comforting to. He mentions the fact that the sky is blue, for starters, and Sehun seems like he can’t even fathom the idea. All Baekhyun learns is that this world is shitty and sucks, humans destroyed nature, and now nature tries to destroy them, with black snow and no sun and pollution-caused darkness; the population is tiny, the world is isolated, and the government is paranoid and corrupt because half a century ago they found out some people are descended from an alien race beyond the clouds and thus have superpowers. It’s fucking ridiculous, Baekhyun isn’t quite sure how he’s meant to take it all seriously.

Except then Sehun talks about the riots, the war, the coup, and the wackiness of aliens with superpowers drowns out in the face of so much outright despair.

“Is there _anything_ good about this world?” Baekhyun asks, incredulous.

“Of course there is,” Sehun replies stubbornly, a little defensive.

“Nope, don’t believe you,” Baekhyun says, partly just to piss Sehun off. “Man, I think even Jongdae would feel depressed by this place. And he’s like… the literal sun.”

Jongdae radiates positivity and happiness the same way the sun radiates UV radiation and the way Baekhyun radiates anxiety, which is a little more poetic than Baekhyun probably should have gotten, but sue him. He’s used to being lame, gay and sappy about Jongdae around Sehun, and he’d naturally defaulted to that with this one too.

Except Sehun looks at Baekhyun like he’s grown another head, and Baekhyun is so fucking tired of being looked at like that.

“Okay seriously,” Baekhyun says, sighing. “What the fuck is Jongdae in this world? Why does saying his name make everybody do that?” He gestures to Sehun’s face, who goes cross-eyed watching Baekhyun point a centimetre away from his nose. “If he’s not dead then what the hell happened?”

Sehun looks conflicted, obviously torn between telling Baekhyun and _not_ telling him, but he eventually relents, shoulders slumping.

“In this world, Jongdae betrayed us,” Sehun explains, and Baekhyun’s eyes widen. “Joined the RTF mutant squad, and now hunts us down to kill us, imprison us, or steal our manifests. Sometimes all three.”

“... Woah,” is all Baekhyun can seem to say.

“Our community is built on trust,” Sehun continues to explain. “Any one of us at any moment could turn the rest of us in, but we don’t, because at the end of the day, being the government’s pet is worse than being their hunting prize.” Baekhyun gulps. “Jongdae.... Didn’t agree, I suppose.”

“So what?” Baekhyun asks, almost afraid of the answer. “He turned you all in?”

“He, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were on a mission together, trying to rescue a few captive mutants kept in one of the outer cities.” Sehun’s face hardens over the longer he talks. “Jongdae betrayed them --lead them into a trap-- killed Kyungsoo and attempted to kill Baekhyun, too, before he managed to get away. Jongdae had joined the RTF and had been selling them our secrets for a while, and now he’s just been hunting us down ever since, being their little lap dog that cleans up the government’s mess.” Sehun scowls, and Baekhyun can’t even begin to comprehend any of this.

“Jongdae… Kim. Like. _Jongdae_ -Jongdae. Betrayed… everyone? That’s why everyone acts like his name is an offensive slur?”

“There’s more to it than that,” Sehun replies quietly, shifting in his place. Baekhyun seriously can’t fucking handle how whack this world is. Jongdae is like… the most loyal, loving, kind person on the planet --in Baekhyun’s world-- how could this reality fuck him up so badly? “You-- other you-- and Jongdae were… close. Bringing him up around you is… not a suggested activity.”

“Close like what?” Baekhyun asks dumbly. “Best friends? Because we kind of have that going for us back home too.”

“No.” Sehun swallows. “Like……… _close_.”

Oh.

 _Oh_.

“Ooooooohh,” Baekhyun says in realisation, trying to process the fact that in this world Jongdae is apparently evil but _hey_ , at least he’s not painfully heterosexual! Luckily for this world’s Baekhyun, who apparently has the being-in-love-with-Jongdae thing in common with Baekhyun, if nothing else. Except that being with Jongdae ended up with a near-death experience for him; fuck, are they star-crossed in all realities or what? “So _that’s_ why everyone is weird about it...”

Sehun nods slowly. “You and Jongdae-- well, you were never the leaders, but you were the heroes. You grew up together. Everyone looked up to you both, half of the people in that room wouldn’t even be there if not for you two.” Okay it’s seriously weird to have Sehun refer to the other-Baekhyun as _you_ , but calling him Baekhyun might just freak Baekhyun out, so he guesses he should just roll with it. “You asked me if there was anything good left in this world. Well... I’d say love is probably one of them.” Sehun’s eyes soften, filled with an unquantifiable amount of sadness. “When Jongdae betrayed us…”

“I turned sad, emo, incredibly gothic and distant?” Baekhyun suggests.

“... Yes,” Sehun replies, squinting. “How did you…”

“Because that’s exactly what would happen to _me_ if _my_ Jongdae ever fucked me over like that,” Baekhyun says solemnly, although he can’t even imagine it. He and Jongdae have been through everything together, from kindergarten to high school to Baekhyun’s weird limbo years of being a drop-out, and by the sounds of things, it’s the same in this world, so why would Jongdae suddenly trade decades of history over for some government-supplied luxury? It just doesn’t make sense, Jongdae isn’t that type of person.

But this world doesn’t have the same Jongdae. Baekhyun frowns at the snow in front of him; he wonders what he’s like and at the same time, with good reason, really hopes he never finds out.

“... You’re in love with Jongdae too, aren’t you?” Sehun says suddenly, making Baekhyun jump. “The one in your world.”

“Pshh what?” Baekhyun tries, with fake nonchalance, feeling his face heat up. “That idiot? No I would _never_ \--” Sehun’s look is flat enough to roll dough over and make a nice pizza. Oh, Baekhyun already misses pizza. Damn. “--okay maybe a teenie weenie bit.” Baekhyun pinches his index and thumb together with a miniscule gap between. He sighs. “Damn you see through me in any reality, huh?”

“You’re transparent.” Sehun shrugs. “The same can’t be said for the you of this world. You’re deceptively easy to read in comparison.”

“Um,” Baekhyun replies. “Thanks?”

Sehun goes quiet then, expression slightly pinched in conflicting thought.

“What is he like?” Sehun asks quietly. “The me of your world.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun replies. “Um… really nice? Like, kind of a brat and a piece of shit on a bad day, but… underneath all that, he’s one of the best people I know.”

Sehun is silent. “And Jongdae…?”

“Jongdae?” Baekhyun repeats, swallowing. “Jongdae is…” he swallows, nervous, licking his dry lips. “... Well, he’s my best friend. I love him more than anything.” And not just in the ‘I kind of want to make out with him’ way, Baekhyun wholeheartedly loves Jongdae as a friend and then some.

“You’re… together, then?” Sehun asks. “In your world?”

“What?” Baekhyun says, and feels his face heat up. “Oh-- _oh_ , no. _No._  Jongdae is painfully heterosexual. Like, a plays-on-the-football-team-and-dates-cheerleaders heterosexual and everything.” The same football team Baekhyun ended up joining just to have an excuse to spend even more time with Jongdae despite his (now ex) cheerleader girlfriend but, semantics.

“What’s a… ‘heterosexual’?” Sehun questions eventually, blinking cutely.

“Oh holy shit you’re right,” Baekhyun remarks. “This world is fucking _great_.”

Superpowers and no homophobia definitely seems like a fucking bonus for dealing with all the other doom and gloom --and the evil Jongdae part; that bit sucks too.

Not a bonus enough to be okay with staying, though. Baekhyun frowns into the air.

The silence persists, but something bothers Baekhyun.

“Are you sure Jongdae is evil?” He starts suddenly, startling Sehun. “I just mean… in my world, it feels like Jongdae would never hurt his friends like that. Not without good reason.”

“There’s no room for doubt,” Sehun says quietly. “He has done horrible things... I’m not sure any of us could ever learn to forgive him.” His expression hardens, like steel, and Baekhyun lets the topic drop. Something in his gut still feels… off, about the entire thing, but he doesn’t push it. He can’t compare this world’s Jongdae to his own when they’re obviously so different, he just… can’t.

 

☾

 

The arcade, as Sehun had explained, isn’t actually an arcade, but a ‘bar-restaurant type place that has a bunch of arcade machines out the back, hence the name’ (his words, not Baekhyun’s.)

It is, in Baekhyun’s opinion, mostly a dump, but he doesn’t say that, taking in the brick building for what it is. Baekhyun doesn’t know what an arcade machine is, but when Sehun leads him to the back of the building and he finds a bunch of electronic boxes with buttons and joysticks sticking out of them with _really_ outdated electronic screens displaying colourful pixels, he assumes that’s what Sehun had meant. But then he sees Jongin bending over one and cursing under his breath, and forgets all about the tacky machine.

“Jongin!” Baekhyun calls, filled with hope, because it’s the same blonde hair, the same broad shoulders, the same--

\--smooth face, no scar. Baekhyun frowns.

“Uh. Do I know you?” This Jongin asks, glancing between Baekhyun’s hand on his shoulder, Baekhyun, and Sehun, looking a little panicked. The machine behind him buzzes. “Oh shit! My high score!”

“No,” Baekhyun says, slumping with disappointment. “I don’t suppose you do.”

“But _man_ you are seriously a cryptid,” Sehun adds, giving Jongin a once-over. “What sort of millenial doesn’t have any social media?”

“Social media is a toxic waste pool,” Jongin replies matter-of-factly, turning back to his machine in greater interest.

Sehun snorts. “Can’t argue with that.”

Dejected, Baekhyun frowns, and Sehun gives him a sideways glance before tugging him back into the restaurant section, sitting him down and ordering some food.

“You haven’t eaten here at all, have you?” Sehun asks, and Baekhyun nods, although it doesn’t matter. In his world he’d be lucky to eat once a day, Baekhyun is used to going without food, ever since he and Jongdae grew up on the streets and Baekhyun would give Jongdae his portion of whatever they could find…

Baekhyun curls one hand’s fingers into the sleeves of his hoodie while the other fiddles with the pendant around his neck absentmindedly. Ah, memories… do they ever stop hurting so much?

The food is strange, long noodles dumped in a red sauce, and Baekhyun takes Sehun’s cue of using the fork to twirl the strands around it and put it in his mouth, brightening at the taste. He’s never had something that tastes this good before.

“Blegh, too salty,” Sehun remarks quietly, although he keeps eating. He looks up at Baekhyun. “So, what now?”

Baekhyun, preoccupied with eating the delicious food, stares at him.

“As in, that plan fell through pretty quick, so what now?” Sehun clarifies. “How are you going to get back?”

“I don’t know…” Baekhyun replies, frowning as he slowly twirls his fork. “I’m not sure what else I can do, now.”

Sehun presses his lips together in worry. “I’m scared for the other you, y’know? Your world sounds terrible and he’s not like you, he’s… soft.” Baekhyun slumps a little at the assumption that he's cut out for his own world. “He’s not cut out for any place that doesn’t have the sun. We have to get him back.”

“He’ll be safe,” Baekhyun assures. “My friends would have found him and kept him protected.” That much he is sure of; Sehun nods in acknowledgement, grateful for the reminder.

“I hope so…” he mutters. “But what else can we do? Without any physics-defying mutants or convenient multiverse dimension portals around, how do we get you back home?”

Home. What a strange word to hear. Baekhyun has never had a home before, not really, and even if he had... he lost it a long time ago.

“I’m not sure,” Baekhyun says, and feels himself slip back into an old illusion, the one he’s used to keeping up around the Sehun back in his world, a brave face. “But we’ll work something out and fix this. I promise.”

Sehun opens his mouth to reply, but they’re cut off by somebody saying, “Baekhyun! What're you doing here?”

Baekhyun tenses, power flooding through his veins in response, ready to disappear, but Sehun’s hand around his wrist keeps him in place, reassuring him.

“Is this where you’ve been instead of working?” It’s fucking Minseok _,_  one of the RTF’s mutant dogs, and Jongdae’s partner, having walked over from another table in the restaurant to come yell at Baekhyun, apparently. “I know I don’t pay you but-- god, Baekhyun. You can’t just not show up. I called you six-thousand times!!!”

“... I lost my phone,” Baekhyun replies, which is partly the truth, not that he lost it so much as his other self is carrying it in another reality. He quickly remembers Sehun’s other lecture on what his list of excuses would be. “And I’m sick.”

Minseok’s expression turns worried at that, and it’s strange, because Baekhyun has never in his life seen the government’s ice king show… any sign of remorse, let alone at Baekhyun. It’s bizarre.

“I hope you feel better then, but at least email or something next time, okay?” Minseok exhales. “It’s really hard to handle the shelter without you.” He glances over his shoulder, back to his table. “I’ll leave you alone to recover but. When can I expect you back?”

“Not for a while,” Sehun helpfully inputs. “He’s… very very very sick. But I’ll make sure that he lets you know.”

Baekhyun nods as if to say, _what he said._

Minseok frowns. “Okay… enjoy your meal, you two.” And walks back to the other table, sitting down and rejoining his group on the other side of the restaurant.

“Well that was a fucking awkward run-in,” Sehun mumbles.

“Who is he, to me, in this world?” Baekhyun asks, eyes still watching Minseok’s back, like at any second he might turn around and lob a pointed icicle at Baekhyun’s throat. He rubs his neck as he turns back around.

“The deadliest thing known to mankind,” Sehun answers, forcing Baekhyun to tense up because he fucking _knew it_. “Your boss.”

What _._

At Baekhyun’s flat look, Sehun snorts. “You volunteer at his animal shelter, Minseok is actually like, the best person ever.” Baekhyun is unconvinced, even though he’d just witnessed his kindness. “He was a vet, but then he changed his clinic into a shelter, and you’re like, his only helping pair of hands. He’s… like an older brother to you, I think. He’s been looking out for you since even before you dropped out.”

Bizarre. “In my world, he’s one of my greatest enemies,” Baekhyun replies flatly, making Sehun’s eyes widen.

“What?” He remarks, in disbelief. “Why is every good person in this world evil in yours?”

Baekhyun shrugs. “Perhaps that’s the difference between them.”

Sehun looks unconvinced, but lets the topic drop at Baekhyun’s obvious defensiveness, not keen on anymore Jongdae talk, not again. He finishes his serving of this... ‘pasta’ much quicker than Sehun does, and then fidgets.

“Are you still hungry?” Sehun asks amusedly, and Baekhyun nods hurriedly, perhaps too eager. “We can order more, if you’d like. Or you could just get dessert.”

“What’s... ‘dessert’?” Baekhyun asks, tilting his head.

“Holy shit,” Sehun says, sitting up quickly and waving at one of the servants that work in this restaurant. “Prepare to have your mind blown.”

 

☀

 

They’ve decided to keep Baekhyun’s little swapping mishap a secret from most of the other mutants, apparently, because Junmyeon and the others don’t want to cause mass panic with their main beacon of light --literally and figuratively-- missing.

Which totally isn’t pressuring at all, as Baekhyun has to pretend to be some gothic mutant badass with emotional constipation while slowly drowning in more and more despair as time passes and Jongin makes no progress on getting him home and getting the real Baekhyun --the one that actually can help all these people-- back.

It fucking sucks, they don’t have food, they barely have water, and mutants can’t live in the actual cities due to DNA scanners, apparently, that can check for the mutant gene. Most mutants who are discovered are captured and imprisoned if not brainwashed into being pets for the government, which means all the ones that get away are stuck to the barren outskirts of the wasteland that is this earth, trying to get by on very little resources. Other Baekhyun’s job as a hero seems stressful, but Jongin is stretched thin too, their only way in and out of the city and thus their main provider of any supplies. He’s tired and wrung out everytime Baekhyun sees him, which is a shame because he’s one of the only people Baekhyun isn’t horrendously intimidated by, and also sort of his ticket out.

So Baekhyun spends the next few days --if you can even call them that, time is impossible to keep track of without a sun-- clinging to Sehun, mostly, because he’s about the only other person Baekhyun finds comforting, both of them existing in some weird relationship where they cling to what they have with their respective alternate selves and re-shape it to fit their new dynamic. This Sehun is a lot sadder than Baekhyun’s usual Sehun, but just as soft and compassionate, and it’s a relaxing presence, if nothing else, to have around, while the rest of Baekhyun is in Extreme Fear Mode™ due to… literally everything. He still hasn’t processed most of this, but he’s working on it. Kind of. He’s almost afraid of processing it, in hindsight, because processing it makes it real, and part of Baekhyun is still hoping that at one stage he’ll wake up from Jongdae scolding him for being late for practice, and this will all wash away like a forgotten dream.

Jongdae… Baekhyun frowns as he helps Seungwan prepare food for everybody in silence --she’d been startled, when he’d offered his help, just for the distraction, but accepted it nonetheless-- a pretty easy process consisting of heating water and adding tasteless nutrition-filled mush to it, then spooning it out into wooden bowls. (It turns out Seungwan is Chanyeol’s fucking wife in this world, which is hilarious; when Baekhyun had heard as much, he’d said _I can’t believe there’s a world where Chanyeol is actually straight_ , and pretended he hadn’t said anything at all when Seungwan said _what?_ ) Is it weird to miss Jongdae so much? Most of Baekhyun’s other friends are here, Junmyeon and Lu Han from the team, Sehun, obviously, Chanyeol --even though this version of him is a complete asshole-- Seulgi and Sooyoung.... The only faces Baekhyun hasn’t managed to find duplicates of is Yixing, Minseok and Sunyoung. They’re the only other people he can think of who are regularly in his life, but everyone else just seems to be somebody who’s present in it regardless, like Joohyun, his advisor from first year who told him it’s okay to drop out if he needs time to take care of himself, apparently being one of the runaway mutants. Baekhyun kind of wants to find out what happened to everybody’s counterparts, but after the revelation of Jongdae being evil… maybe not.

Baekhyun sniffles in the darkness, nose constantly running in the cold, as he washes one of the large metal pots by the old-fashioned water pump, watching the unclean water splash into the equally as unclean snow. It’s hard work, helping Seungwan make sure everybody has enough food and water and warmth, bandaging their wounds like he would an animal at Minseok’s shelter, and he can’t help but wonder if his other self can like… actually handle this. Baekhyun is terrible with responsibilities, but he also has a penchant for overworking himself, a mixture of trying to prove himself to nobody in particular and everybody else and blatant need for distraction --without Jongdae to keep him grounded or anyone else telling him that it’s okay to rest for a while, Baekhyun kind of just throws himself into everything uninhibited, and it’s… weird. All Sehun and the others --the ones that know the truth, anyway-- seem to do is point out the differences between Baekhyun and his other self, and even the people who don’t know the truth keep mentioning all the ‘weird’ things about him and thinking he won’t hear them just because they’re said while he’s doing something else. Everyone just keeps reminding him that he’s different to his other self, and yet all Baekhyun can do is think about how they're the same.

They both obviously love Jongdae, after all, even if this version of Baekhyun’s love has died out no thanks to the big Judas Jongdae has pulled. They both seem to do too much at once. They both have a lot of crippling responsibilities --granted, Baekhyun’s version of crippling responsibilities is trying to pass university without breaking down, this Baekhyun’s version is saving the entire population of mistreated alien descendants. They both seem to like helping people. They’re both… hurting, in their own special ways. Baekhyun doesn’t know the full extent of the other Baekhyun’s orphan street-rat life before discovering his powers and running away or whatever, but he has kind of been living in his shoes literally over the past few days while pretending to be him, and it’s fucking hard. Everyone looks at him with adoration and light in their eyes, like he’s a hero, and even regular old Baekhyun is feeling pressured to keep some sort of front for them, pretending to be more put-together than he actually is. If other Baekhyun is anything like him, then he probably isn’t put-together at all --even more so if he doesn’t have Jongdae around to ground him.

It’s an alienating thought.

Baekhyun is so deep in his reverie he almost misses the glimmer of something in the corner of his eye, head craning to catch it through reflex as something far off in the darkness seems to… flicker, on and off, moving through the shadows. Huh. Baekhyun has never seen light like that before.

He walks back inside to ask Sehun about it, the only person who seems to tolerate his incessant questioning, only to find Junmyeon and Jongin arguing in the upper room above the main hub instead.

“Hey--” Baekhyun starts, but it goes unnoticed.

“--still haven’t worked out what this fucking core does,” Junmyeon says, scowling. “And now you’re more focused on trying to get Baekhyun back than keeping us alive?”

“Um, guys,” Baekhyun tries.

“What do you want me to say, Myeon?” Jongin sighs exasperatedly. “We need Baekhyun back as soon as possible, we can’t just--”

“Is light normal?” Baekhyun blurts, unfazed by them talking about getting rid of him and getting the good Baekhyun back. Again. “Because like, I saw this light in the darkness--”

“What is it, Baekhyun?” Junmyeon snaps, causing Baekhyun to shirk into his shoulders a little, feeling like a kicked puppy.

“Just um. I saw. A far away light, in the mountains…” he trails off, swallowing. “Is that normal?”

“You saw light?” Jongin asks, and his eyes widen in panic. “No,” he reveals. “No, that isn’t normal.”

He and Junmyeon exchange frantic looks. “We need to get out of here,” Junmyeon demands. “ _Now_.”

It’s a pretty frantic rush after that, Baekhyun yelping as he’s pulled downstairs by Jongin and everyone is quickly told to evacuate outside and into the wilderness. A mess of whispers and half-screams as Chanyeol rushes outside to switch off the generators and plunge them into darkness. Jongin and Baekhyun are halfway into the forest alongside everyone else when Jongin pales and says, “Shit, the core. I left it inside.”

“What?” Baekhyun says. “Who cares! We’re all running away!” For some reason he doesn’t really know, but he’s too swept up in the panic to question it. Jongin gives him a lingering look before turning on his heel and sprinting, and Baekhyun worriedly glances at the group moving in front of him before stupidly deciding to follow, just to make sure Jongin stays safe. Stupid mutants, what’s the point of having somebody who can teleport if he can’t even fucking teleport no thanks to some stupid Professor X tracking device shit they’ve got going on. Goddamn.

Baekhyun is terrible at running, but maybe all that benched member football practice is actually paying off as he follows Jongin to make sure something terrible doesn’t happen to him. He stops at the edge of the trees, surprised to see a fucking hovering car parked outside the main hub, only to scream when something hits him on the back of his neck with enough force to shove him forward, and Baekhyun falls to the ground on his knees, gasping for breath.

“Well, well, well, look who it is,” somebody says, and when Baekhyun looks up, his eyes widen at seeing Minseok --or, the version of his from this world-- wearing all white with plastic on top and smiling a little maniacally. “The saviour of light himself.” Minseok’s fingers hook under his chin, examining Baekhyun’s face, and they’re just so… cold. “What? Not even trying to escape?”

Shit.

“Leave him alone, Minseok,” of course it’s fucking Sunyoung, of course she’s also evil. In Baekhyun’s world she’s one of Jongdae’s closest friends --therefore Baekhyun’s by proxy-- and sort of the nicest, loveliest person in the world. Of course she’s fucking evil in this world. Her grin looks wrong on her face, beneath her dark, short-cropped hair. “You know he’s not our toy to play with.”

Right, well, sadistic crazy government agents, check. Baekhyun wanted to know what happened to them and here they are! Curiosity killed the cat after all... Baekhyun is so fucking done with this universe.

“Where is Jongdae, anyway?” Minseok remarks, looking back to the main hub, Sunyoung doesn’t give him a response. Baekhyun decides his best bet is to remain silent and hope for a fucking christmas miracle to suddenly send him back to his homeworld or something, while sitting there in the ground with what he can only assume to be a gun against his neck. Reality hopping is just so fun.

Eventually, another group of the white clad soldiers and somebody in the clear plastic like Minseok and Sunyoung walk out towards them, Baekhyun barely able to see their faces as his head is forced to look down at the dirt snow.

“The core is gone,” a familiar voice says, and Baekhyun feels his heart drop. “I felt the teleporter’s pulse a second too late. He was out before we could catch him.”

“And the other mutants?” Minseok asks.

“Gone, too. God only knows where.” There’s a dry huff, and suddenly silence, as Baekhyun’s skin prickles when he feels the attention redirected to him.

“Well, at least we caught Baekhyun.” He can hear Minseok’s predatory grin. “He was straggling in the woods. The captain will be happy.”

There’s silence, a lack of response, and Baekhyun catches the way Minseok’s feet shift anxiously, left then right, before warm, calloused fingers are hooked under his chin, and jerking Baekhyun’s face up.

Jongdae is as beautiful in this world as he is in Baekhyun’s, although his hair is longer, curled over the tips of his ears, and his skin more pale, his eyes dark with heavy shadows beneath them. He doesn’t particularly _look_ evil, so much as he just looks… tired, sort of wrung out in a manic way. Frazzled, even.

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun breathes out, taken aback.

Jongdae’s eyebrows furrow together. “You’re not Baekhyun.”

 

☾

 

The days here pass so strangely when the sun exists to actually mark the passage of time, Baekhyun finds. He has a surprising amount of free time when he only attends the classes that Sehun insists he attend because of the roll call, or whatever, and Baekhyun spends most of it exploring the university campus. Invisible, of course, to prevent any unwanted encounters, but enjoyable all the same. Walking under the sun, breathing in the scent of grass, seeing people so careless and free… it’s intoxicating, and the longer Baekhyun remains in this world, the less he wants to return to his own.

It’s fucking relaxing, which is a bizarre state of mind Baekhyun has never experienced before now, not having to watch over his shoulder, not having to watch out for anybody but himself. One afternoon Baekhyun just lies in the sun and falls asleep, right there in the middle of the day, completely uncaring. It’s the best thing in the world.

Second only to the food, maybe, which Baekhyun finds out is pretty much unlimited here --within economic constraints. (However, it’s very, very easy for an invisible person to ignore those constraints. Not that Baekhyun tells Sehun that --stealing is illegal in Baekhyun’s world too, he’s not an idiot.)

The food is beyond delicious, and Baekhyun keeps trying and enjoying all of it, eating to the point of making himself sick. Sehun gets back to their room one day, door still broken, sees all the empty packaging on the floor and across the bed, and just says _what the fuck_.

Baekhyun is eating even now, chewing on some sticky sweet thing that stretches in his mouth and clings to his teeth as he walks towards the library, trying to find Yixing. It’s five p.m, according to the watch Sehun gave Baekhyun, so Yixing should be here, but the entire building is huge --where is he going to be?

It takes half an hour before Baekhyun finds him after combing the entire place, sitting by a corner table on the fifth floor. He looks up when Baekhyun stands in front of him expectantly.

“Hey, I was wondering when you were going to show up,” he smiles and clears a space for Baekhyun, who pulls out the books Sehun had told him he’d be expected to take.

“I couldn’t find you.” Baekhyun frowns. “This building is very big.”

“We always study up here, though.” Yixing gives him an amused look. “You could’ve just texted to ask.”

“... I lost my phone,” Baekhyun admits. It’s one of the excuses he finds himself repeating a lot, which makes him wonder how much the people of this universe rely on these… phones. (Which seem to be some sort of? Communicator device? Baekhyun hasn’t really worked it out yet, Sehun showed him his phone, one night, but Baekhyun was far more interested in the pizza they were eating.)

“You haven’t gotten it replaced yet?” Yixing asks, as Baekhyun nods in confirmation. “And you’re not dying without it? Woah who are you and what did you do with Baekhyun.” Baekhyun tenses up before Yixing laughs, realising it’s just a joke. He relaxes accordingly. “I thought you’d die without getting your daily rewards in Love Live.”

“... Somehow, I manage,” Baekhyun says dryly, which just makes Yixing laugh all over again, and Baekhyun softens. God he’s missed Yixing so much, and this Yixing isn’t even _his_ Yixing; that Yixing is still imprisoned in the Red Vault, powerless and being experimented on, all because of Baekhyun. When Jongdae had first betrayed them, Baekhyun didn’t believe it, and tried to save him… Yixing was the only person willing to believe Baekhyun, and when they went into the city, only Baekhyun got out, meaning another person’s life got put at risk because Baekhyun was too much of an idiot to see Jongdae’s true colours.

A sobering thought, but at least Yixing is far more interested in the bizarre amount of numbers written in front of him than analysing Baekhyun. Baekhyun slowly copies his layout, pulling out the same textbook and one of the notebooks, then he sits and waits, wondering when the revision will happen. Perhaps Yixing just needs to finish his own work, first?

It leaves Baekhyun plenty of time to sit with his thoughts, wondering what his life would’ve been like if he’d grown up in a world like this, like the other Baekhyun, fiddling with the pendant around his neck as he does so --the same one from the matching pair he and Jongdae had stolen together as children because they could, giggling, the same one Jongdae had torn off his own neck disinterestedly when he told Baekhyun he’d never loved him. It’s hard to imagine, living in a world like this, how Baekhyun would have ended up… would he and Jongdae have been happy together, here? Like their counterparts?

Baekhyun doesn't know. Baekhyun doesn't  _want_ to know. It would only be salt in the wound.

It takes approximately forty minutes before Yixing looks up and says, “Hey, what did you get for question fifteen--” he stops and looks at Baekhyun’s notebook. “... Have you done any work at all?” he asks, eyebrows pinching as he scrutinises Baekhyun’s face.

“... No?” Baekhyun offers hesitantly, not sure what else to say. “I was waiting for you.”

“Waiting for me to what?” Yixing looks bewildered. “Wow, you really weren’t kidding when you said you understood nothing. Do you seriously want me to teach you this entire chapter?”

“... Sure?”

It takes a long fucking time, and even once Yixing is done relaying concepts Baekhyun lies and pretends he understands them just to make him stop. By the time they’re done it’s past seven, and Yixing teases Baekhyun for the ‘productive’ study session (sarcasm, if Baekhyun could guess) before excusing himself to go home since it’s late and he’s hungry. Baekhyun readily agrees, happy that it’s meal time because _eating_ , and watches Yixing leave the library before beginning to pack up his own books and shove them into his backpack.

Baekhyun tenses when he feels somebody sneak up behind him and wrap their arms around his waist.

“I can’t believe you,” a familiar voice mumbles, and Baekhyun’s heart beats in double time as panic floods his body. “Why are you so mad at me that you’re avoiding me? What did I do?”

Baekhyun gulps before slowly turning his head to glance over his shoulder, heartbeat pounding in his ears, only to catch a head of straight dark hair, which glances up suddenly, meaning Jongdae’s face is right in front of his.

Baekhyun inhales sharply. “Jongdae.”

Jongdae’s straight eyebrows pinch together. “You’re not Baekhyun,” he blurts, then steps back, sudden and shocked, pulling away from Baekhyun and leaving the distinct feeling of warmth against his back as he blinks at him, rubbing at his eyes. “Who-- Who the hell are you?”

Baekhyun’s entire body is trembling. “I am Baekhyun,” he reiterates.

“No, no you’re _not_ I know Baekhyun and you’re not--” Jongdae cuts off, laughing nervously, devoid of any humour in it. “--What the fuck is this? Baekhyun have a long lost twin or what?”

Baekhyun swallows, licks his lips. “I am Baekhyun, just-- just not your Baekhyun.”

It’s so strange, to see Jongdae like this, dressed in the casual clothes of this world and looking so… human, not wearing all white, not scarred on every inch of skin, not looking at Baekhyun with utter disgust. His hands won’t stop fucking shaking, so Baekhyun shoves them into the pockets of his hoodie. Fuck, Sehun warned him Jongdae would try to find him, Baekhyun didn’t think…

“What the hell is going on?” Jongdae asks, eyes wide with fear. “Where’s my Baekhyun?”

Painstakingly, Baekhyun explains everything that’s happened, from leaping with Jongin to ending up here, and suspecting that the other Baekhyun may have taken his place. Jongdae just goes paler by the second, completely silent, and Baekhyun hates making him look like that, even as his voice grows more sure as he continues. Jongdae doesn’t call Baekhyun crazy or accuse him of making it up, if anything, he seems to believe it maybe more easily than even Baekhyun did when he’d first woken up here.

“God this sounds like a fucking Batman comic,” is all Jongdae says once Baekhyun is done, leaning against the wall with a head against his forehead, faint. “I mean-- I’m not surprised the multiverse theory is correct I just. Didn’t think traveling between dimensions was possible.” Baekhyun doesn’t have anything to say to that, simply staring at Jongdae. It’s so hard not to when he’s this close, because as a duplicate he even has all the same moles --the ones in his eyebrows and by his hairline, under his jaw. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Baekhyun snaps out of his trance. “What?”

“I wouldn’t have been like, mad or anything, you know. Why avoid me instead of telling me? I could’ve helped.” Jongdae frowns. Baekhyun hates the sight of it --hates anything that makes him do anything but smile.

“I…” how does he begin to explain, exactly, that seeing Jongdae like this, happy and normal and whole, hurts Baekhyun more than anything in his own world ever could? That his feelings for Jongdae are already so complicated, that presenting him with a version of Jongdae that doesn’t want to stab him in the back won’t help, and Baekhyun was worried that being near Jongdae would tear him in half between part of him that wants to kiss him and the part of him that wants to kill him. Both halves which he is currently fighting right now, his brain trying to fight over his instincts. It’s infuriating. “... In my world, we are not friends.” Baekhyun decides on instead. “In fact, we are enemies. I don’t trust you.”

And if he thought Jongdae frowning was bad, then making him have that expression of hurt is far, far worse. This Jongdae has never done anything to warrant being punished for Baekhyun and _his_ Jongdae’s sins, he has no right to take it out on him, and suddenly guilt settles in Baekhyun’s chest, alongside shame. He looks away, unable to stand looking at Jongdae any further.

“We’re not friends… really?” Jongdae asks quietly, searching Baekhyun’s face. He exhales slowly. “I can’t believe it.”

“We were friends, once,” Baekhyun tells him. “And then you betrayed me.”

“Okay so, I don’t inspire trust for you, got it, really,” Jongdae assures, holding up his hands. “No need to rub it in…” He rubs the back of his neck. “But I-- I want to help get my Baekhyun back. I have to.”

Baekhyun frowns at Jongdae, examining his expression, a mixture of hurt and confusion and desperation, trying to make sense of it. The answer is obvious.

“You’re in love with him,” Baekhyun states.

Jongdae’s face turns red immediately. “What?”

“This world’s Baekhyun believes you only have an interest in women,” Baekhyun squints at Jongdae. “And yet, you are in love with him.”

“I’m not-- I’m not in love with him!!!” Jongdae quickly denies, frantically looking around as if someone might overhear. “I just-- I don’t-- I don’t _know_ what I am, okay.” Baekhyun does not think Jongdae’s cardiovascular system can afford for any more blood to go into his face. “He means a lot to me and I… It’s confusing.”

Baekhyun laughs in disbelief, bitter and grating. “In my world Jongdae chose to abandon what we had,” he says, more to himself than Jongdae. “And in this one, I see you have done the same.”

“Hey,” Jongdae snaps, angry, and pushes Baekhyun’s shoulder, startling him as he has to put a foot out to balance. “There’s a difference between me being a traitor and me not knowing my own fucking feelings. It’s not like Baekhyun has said anything either!”

“Oh please,” Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “I haven’t even met him and I know it’s obvious. If you're anything like my Jongdae, you have known for a long time.”

Judging by the expression on Jongdae’s face: bullseye. His face contorts uncomfortably, and he steps back guiltily, looking down to the floor. It had been Baekhyun’s Jongdae who had made the first move in their world, too, the night as teenagers when they’d discovered Baekhyun’s powers through an unfortunate run-in with the police and fled into the outskirts; when they’d stopped, gasping for breath, Jongdae had pulled Baekhyun in and kissed him, promising that they’d make it through all of this together, no matter what.

Baekhyun’s fists clench, as if he can still feel Jongdae’s fingers intertwined through his. It had only been later, that they’d discovered Jongdae’s manifest too --Jongdae had been ecstatic to be able to help Baekhyun, Baekhyun had felt nothing but devastation knowing Jongdae would be in just as much danger as him.

“It’s not that easy, okay?” This world’s Jongdae tries pathetically, slumping.

Baekhyun shakes his head, smiling twistedly. “I see you’re just as weak in both worlds.” He scowls, then picks up his backpack, and leaves. Jongdae doesn’t follow him out.

 

☀

 

Silence passes as Jongdae stands.

“What?” Minseok responds.

“This isn’t Baekhyun,” Jongdae reiterates, stepping back as his eyes search Baekhyun’s face imploringly.

“Of course it is, _look_ at him,” Minseok argues, pulling Baekhyun’s head up by his hair as Baekhyun yelps. “Who else could it be?”

Jongdae shakes his head firmly. “It isn’t him.”

“Well it can’t be an illusion,” Sunyoung snaps. “They’re never tangible.”

“It’s obviously him, you’ve just lost your mind.” Minseok scoffs, and Jongdae narrows his eyes at him, a cold, sinister look that appears wrong on his face, before pulling some sort of gun out of his belt and holding it against Baekhyun’s arm.

He yelps as the gun injects a needle into him and withdraws blood, and a holo-screen pops up, a picture of other Baekhyun’s face and what looks like a bunch of genetic code with one line beneath it: _ID #04:_ _MATCH_.

“See?” Minseok says, gesturing. “You’re crazy.”

But then there’s a small ding as a red exclamation mark pops up, and when Jongdae taps it, the words are clear to read in the darkness. _DISCREPANCY: MISSING MUTANT O-GENE. SCAN AGAIN?_

“What?” Sunyoung asks. “The mutant gene? That’s impossible.”

“Not even when the power source is taken does the gene disappear,” Minseok mumbles, snatching the DNA scanner thing from Jongdae’s hands and furiously fiddling with its settings before slumping. He looks at Baekhyun with wide eyes. “What the hell are you?”

Jongdae’s hands are weirdly gentle as they hook beneath Baekhyun’s face and force him to look into his eyes, just as warm and brown in this world as they are back home.

“Where’s the real Baekhyun?” he asks firmly.

“Why are you doing this?” Baekhyun questions instead of replying, soft enough that only Jongdae might hear, while Minseok and Sunyoung continue staring at the DNA scanner a few steps away in shock. “Why are you hurting him?”

He doesn’t have to clarify who he’s talking about, Jongdae’s face turns into a snarl immediately.

“Answer the fucking question, impostor,” he spits out, and when Baekhyun looks into his eyes he just sees how tired Jongdae is, how much pain he’s clearly in, that same desperation and… and something almost like worry. Does he care for the other Baekhyun enough to worry about his disappearance? That certainly clashes with the heartless monster everybody has painted him out to be.

“I don’t know,” Baekhyun bites out sardonically, because he has no self-preservation, and seeing Jongdae be so stupid, picking the wrong side and becoming evil, just makes him so fucking angry. “Maybe if you didn’t stab him in the back you would, though.”

Jongdae’s eyes narrow, and Baekhyun watches with wide eyes as he raises one hand and small blue lightning bolts dance between his fingers, suddenly beginning to regret his choice to be a smart-ass piece of shit, but then Jongdae seems to pause, suddenly, before spinning around and jabbing his hand into empty space.

No, not empty space, it’s just where Jongin materialises, reeking of ozone, having caught Jongdae’s wrist with his hands just before it could land.

“Ah, you’re too slow Dae,” Jongin says cockily. “Won’t get me with that trick again.”

“Give me the core, and I’ll spare your life,” Jongdae threatens lowly, Jongin just smirks.

“I’ll think about it,” he says in a way that implies he most definitely won’t think about it, and then evaporates again behind Jongdae, kicking him firmly in the back. Minseok and Sunyoung spring into action immediately, but Jongin already has his arms around Baekhyun. “Hold on tight, okay?” Baekhyun nods hurriedly.

When he opens his eyes again, Jongin is on top of him, urging him to stand, and Baekhyun sways with the dizziness and sudden nausea.

“I think I’m gonna puke,” he says to no one.

“Yeah that’s normal,” Jongin tugs him by his wrist through the darkness, giving Baekhyun no recovery time at all. “What the hell were you thinking following me like that? You should have stayed with the others.”

“I didn’t want you to go back in alone,” Baekhyun frowns. “I had to make sure you were okay.”

Jongin just sighs, stopping shortly, and flashes him a small smile. “You really are Baekhyun, huh?” His shoulders slump, and he shakes his head in exasperated fondness. “Either way, you’re lucky I got there in time like I did, and you’re lucky I left an anchor in the hub. God only knows what Jongdae might have done to you to get answers... You didn’t tell him anything, right?”

“Of course not.” Baekhyun scoffs, scowling at the mere implication of letting Asshole Jongdae get anything out of him. “I’m not an idiot.” Jongin gives him a pointed look. “... Not that much of an idiot,” Baekhyun amends.

“Good,” Jongin relaxes, tugging Baekhyun forward again. “I had to leap us a few hours away from the rendezvous point, we need to get there quickly before Jongdae tracks my pulse down.”

Baekhyun nods in dazed agreement, and maintains pace with Jongin as they hike through the darkness. When they finally reach the rendezvous point, a clearing in the forest, Junmyeon heads towards them immediately.

“What happened?” Junmyeon asks worriedly, Sehun and Chanyeol in tow. “Why didn’t you follow us?”

“I had to get the core,” Jongin says, pulling that same weird glowing green thing out of his pocket. “Baekhyun here is as stupidly idiotic and heroic as his counterpart and followed me. Nasty run in with our favourite trio.”

“How did they know we were there?” Chanyeol asks quietly. “Do you think somebody--”

“No,” Jongin states clearly. “I don’t think it was a mutant. I think it was this.” He jostles the glowing green thing --the core-- between them in gesture. “I think they have a way of tracing its signal.”

“Then we should hide it,” Sehun suggests.

Jongin just shakes his head. “We can’t. If they can track it, then they can get it back no matter where we put it. It’s safest with me.”

Solemn silence passes between the small group, and Baekhyun’s eyebrows furrow together.

“But… if they’re always tracking it, then you can’t… stay here…” he says slowly, and realisation dawns on him as the others look away. Oh, they'd all realised the same thing.

Jongin just gives him a sad little smile. “It’s okay,” he reassures. “It’s worth it.”

“What does the core even do?” Baekhyun asks. “Why is it worth making yourself a target like that?”

“We don’t know what it does,” Chanyeol answers, frowning at the thing in Jongin’s hands. “We intercepted a radio signal that anticipated its delivery, and figured that if it’s something that they want that badly, it’s worth having.”

“We think it’s some kind of a power cell,” Sehun adds. “We just don’t know for what.”

“Sounds ominous,” Baekhyun replies, and they all grunt in agreement. Something else bothers him. “... How are we going to get other me back if you’re busy running away from Asshole Jongdae?” he asks Jongin.

“... I don’t know,” Jongin answers quietly, and Junmyeon frowns.

“It’s certainly a problem,” he inputs. “We need you here if we want any hope of finding a way to get Baekhyun back and undo your mistake.”

“But we also need you to keep the core,” Chanyeol rebuts, lips pressed together. "You need to make a choice." Jongin just looks down guiltily, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh my _god_ ,” Baekhyun remarks. “Can you guys like, lay off of him for like? Three fucking seconds?”

Junmyeon looks taken aback. “What?”

“Cut Jongin some slack!!” Baekhyun argues, he’s tired and frustrated and adrenaline is still flooding his body from Asshole Jongdae’s friendly visit and he just… he just really fucking hates it when people blame others for things that are out of their control, and then act like they’re meant to fix it all on their own. It’s how he was treated the entire period dropping out of college, and he _loathes_ it. “All you guys do is just shoulder huge piles of blame onto each other because you’re too fucking cowardly to do it yourself! Fuck! No wonder other me thought getting lost in the void would be better than coming back here!!!” Baekhyun huffs. “I’ve pretended to be him for less than a week and all I can understand about his life is that the entire fucking world rests on his shoulders and no one seems to wonder if that’s going to be hard on him! What have you done to infiltrate the RTF, huh?” he asks Junmyeon. “I don’t see you sacrificing yourself to carry the core halfway across this shitty earth.”

“That’s different,” Junmyeon replies, scowling. “I lost my manifest.”

“Yeah well, I’m powerless too but I’m still trying to help!” Baekhyun counters. “Where were you when Seungwan was cooking? When Joohyun was handing out blankets? Where were you when Jongin fucking jumped right back into the hands of the enemy to get the core and save me? Either fucking staying in your room arguing about frivolous shit or running away like cowards. God!!!” He laughs loudly in bitter disbelief. “Some leaders you guys are,” he jerks his chin at Junmyeon and Chanyeol. “All you do is whine that other me isn’t here to pick up your shit for you. Have you ever considered? What that pressure might be like for him? Have you ever even thought about it?” Baekhyun runs a hand through his hair. “I mean! Jesus Christ! The guy’s other half, the love of his life, the only person who has ever been there for him betrayed him and you all just expect him to be okay with that! Just want him to carry on and be done with it! Wash his hands clean, it’s ridiculous!!!! All anyone here does is remind him of how fucking terrible Jongdae is and how what he did was awful and how they’re lucky that Baekhyun is still here to help them and do everything and be the most powerful mutant saviour ever but guess fucking what, guys!!!!” Baekhyun inhales frantically to catch his breath. “If he’s fucking anything like me than he probably hasn’t just stopped magically loving Jongdae at the drop of a hat and is probably destroying himself from the inside out to please you all because none of you have ever given a single shit about his well being!”

The group is silent, staring at Baekhyun with wide eyes as he just pants, calming himself down. Slowly, Baekhyun exhales, and stands up straight.

“Great,” he says decisively, nodding shortly in acknowledgement as he speaks at a normal tone. “Glad I got that off my chest. C’mon Jongin.”

Jongin blinks at him, startled. “Err. What?” He blurts.

“I’m coming with you,” Baekhyun says. “Obviously.”

“Wh-- why?” Jongin asks.

“Because _I_ at least want to do something proactive like, you know, help keep the power cell of some probably giant mega super death weapon laser away from the enemy.” Baekhyun huffs. “And you shouldn’t have to be alone.”

“Wait,” Sehun says. “I’m coming too.” He steps forward then, filling Baekhyun’s chest with pride. “He’s right, Jongin. You shouldn’t have to do this alone. If there’s three of us then it’ll be easier.”

Baekhyun expects Chanyeol and Junmyeon to say something, but they don’t, just wear matched pinched expressions of guilt and shame as Baekhyun, Sehun and Jongin pick up their things, and walk away into the eternal darkness.

 

☾

 

Baekhyun wakes up in his other self’s bed to a knock at the door, which is stupid, because the handle is still broken so whoever is on the other side can just walk in.

Such politeness alerts Baekhyun that it can only be one person, and he’s disappointed to open the door and find out he’s right, Jongdae looking guilty on the other side of the threshold.

“What are you doing here?” Baekhyun seethes, not making any move to allow Jongdae in.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Jongdae says, rubbing at his eyes. “I was up all night thinking of how to help and--” he pauses, suddenly. “--is that my shirt?”

Baekhyun looks down at the tattered shirt in question, something he’d pulled from the bottom of the closet simply to sleep in. It’s bright yellow and has a picture of an egg with a face on it. Baekhyun does not understand this world’s affinity for cute things.

“How would I know?” Baekhyun asks, a little petulant.

“I-- nothing, it’s fine. Looks good on you anyway.” Jongdae rubs the back of his neck as he swallows nervously, adam’s apple bobbing. “But like I said, I came here to help, Baekhyun. I’m sorry for what the other me did to you, but you can’t blame me for that.” He juts his chin out a little, false bravado. It’s kind of cute, a part of Baekhyun distantly thinks, this Jongdae is so different to the one he’s used to. “And what exists between me and my Baekhyun is… none of your business either.”

They hold eye contact for a few seconds, Baekhyun enjoying the way Jongdae positively squirms, before feeling exhausted and giving up.

“You’re probably right,” he relents, reluctant, and Jongdae seems shocked by his acquiescence too. It’s enough to make Baekhyun smile, despite everything. “What was your idea to help?”

Jongdae’s ‘help’ involves hiking halfway across campus to the physics department, where they can talk to a few of the professors and friends he had around there who might have some sort of insight as to how to get Baekhyun back. It’s certainly a better plan than the fruitless internet search ripe with jargon words neither of them could understand that Sehun tried, so Baekhyun agrees.

Except he clearly didn’t think it through very much, because it involves walking with Jongdae in a very, very uncomfortable silence for an amount of time that seems to stretch on forever. Baekhyun doesn’t break it, for obvious reasons, and Jongdae also doesn’t break it, for other obvious reasons, but they both seem to be lost enough in the bizarre situation that they’re acutely aware of how bizarre it is.

Jongdae’s phone keeps quacking, at one stage, as they’re nearing the physics building, and Jongdae apologises lamely.

“Sorry, it’s probably just Chanyeol spamming me with shitty memes again and Kyungsoo yelling at him for it,” he mutters, flicking a switch on the side of the small device that makes it cease. Jongdae smiles nervously. “Are they as annoying in your world as he is here?” He jokes hesitantly.

“Chanyeol is a hero,” Baekhyun replies coldly, making Jongdae wince. “To many more than just me. He has saved lives more times than I can count.” Granted he’s been a little less active without his manifest, these days, seeming to have joined Junmyeon in the ‘We Depend On You More Than Anyone Else’ movement. Not that Baekhyun has any lingering grudges about it or anything. “And Kyungsoo is dead.”

Jongdae pales. “What?”

“Kyungsoo is dead,” Baekhyun repeats bitterly. “ _You_ killed him.” That first night when Jongdae had cut Baekhyun down… it’s Kyungsoo who paid the true price. Kyungsoo, who wouldn't have even been there if Baekhyun had told him to stay behind...

“Okay I get it, lesson learned,” Jongdae holds his hands up in surrender, stepping back. “Everyone in your world is either a dead saint or a living one, apart from me, who’s just fucking Satan. Great.” Jongdae runs a hand frantically through his hair. “This doesn’t make me feel like shit at all.”

“You said it yourself,” Baekhyun replies coolly. “I cannot blame you for other self’s crimes.”

“Okay yeah, sure, but that doesn’t mean _I_ don’t feel weirdly guilty about it,” Jongdae mumbles, shuffling uncomfortably, and Baekhyun has to admit… he’s kind of enjoying it, hurting Jongdae like this, not even a fraction of the same way _his_ Jongdae has hurt him, but he can recognise he’s being too harsh.

“You are not even close to being similar,” Baekhyun offers softly, forcing himself to relax. “Don’t concern yourself with somebody else’s flaws.”

“I don’t believe that,” Jongdae replies, making Baekhyun look at him suddenly, confused. “I mean… you’re so much like my Baekhyun, you know? It makes it hard to believe that the… evil me isn’t like me, too.”

Baekhyun gives him an amused look. “I’m nothing like your Baekhyun.” If there’s anything he’s learnt living in this world… it’s that.

“Really?” Jongdae asks, frowning. “I mean, you’re just as kind. You’re just as observant. You even have the same smile.” Baekhyun blinks at him, taken aback, and pointedly pushes his lips back into frowning. “You have the same ‘I’m going to do everything myself’ mentality and everything, you’re just as stubborn, and you’re… well, I technically don’t know you at all, but you’re just as comforting to be around.” Jongdae’s face has gone a little pink as he swallows, staring ahead pointedly.

“How can you possibly know any of those things about me?” Baekhyun asks, frowning harder.

“Well, you tolerate _me_ even though you have all the right in the world to hate me,” he lists off on his thumb. “You’re insistent about not ruining my Baekhyun’s life and trying to blend in without asking anybody other than Sehun for help.” Index. “And you seem… pretty intent on finding a way to return my Baekhyun back, even though you technically don’t have to help him at all.” Jongdae shrugs stiffly, and Baekhyun feels his heart… swell. It’s not a good thing. “I dunno, I guess I’m just good at reading all Baekhyun’s across all universes, huh?” He gives a small boyish smile.

“I guess so,” Baekhyun mumbles noncommittally, and follows Jongdae through a pair of glass doors.

“Multiverse theory?” The first person Jongdae leads Baekhyun to --fucking Heechul, another mutant, of course-- repeats. He smiles wryly. “I don’t remember putting that in the syllabus.”

“It isn’t,” Jongdae answers smoothly. “It’s for a personal project. I remember you mentioning you and your PhD students did a study on it.”

“With respect to the duality paradox,” Heechul clarifies. “That’s dealing with particles at the fundamental level, not… entire organisms.”

“Duality… paradox?” Baekhyun parrots.

“Every quantic entity can act as a wave or a particle, it just depends on who’s watching it,” Heechul explains. He’s certainly not this smart in Baekhyun’s world. “Well, in layman’s terms anyway. When you observe a particle, its dual properties narrow down into one possibility, indicating that there’s an alternate reality where it exhibited the other.”

So Baekhyun’s world is fucking miserable just because a photon decided to be a wave instead of a particle? It’s a little hard to believe.

“So say just-- theoretically, if you wanted to travel between those universes…?” Jongdae tries.

“It’s just not possible,” Heechul waves his hands with an amused smile, and Baekhyun and Jongdae exchange knowing eye contact. (It’s an instinctual response, really, and Baekhyun doesn’t even register he’s done it until Jongdae looks away, second guessing himself.) “You’d have to firstly tear a hole in the space-time continuum, and then find some way to turn your body into particles so that you aren’t torn apart by whatever the fuck happens when you leave your reality.”

So _that’s_ how Jongin’s power works? Baekhyun blinks, stupefied. Huh. No wonder he feels so nauseous when his body gets put back together particle by particle after every leap.

Heechul gives them both a skeptical look. “What sort of personal project is this, anyway?”

Jongdae grins sheepishly. “Just trying to get around a plot hole in a webcomic we’re thinking of writing.” He rubs the back of his neck --it’s a disturbingly believable lie. Heechul gives an amused look.

“Don’t worry about the details so much in a story, Jongdae,” he puts a hand on Jongdae’s shoulder. “I’m sure the comic will be great regardless.”

“Thanks anyway, professor,” Jongdae says, nodding gratefully before tugging Baekhyun outside the office and back into the hallway. Jongdae slumps. “Well that was a dud. Sorry.”

Baekhyun shakes his head softly. “It’s not your fault,” he reassures, and hates the way Jongdae is frowning, as if it somehow _is_ his fault. Baekhyun’s Jongdae had been like this too, once upon a time, always trying to fix every problem and blaming himself when it couldn’t be. It’s almost a flaw, in a way, believing everything has a solution to begin with. Baekhyun softens fondly, then catches himself and tenses, again --he’s slipping back into the old muscle memory of loving Jongdae when this one has done nothing to hurt him, and that’s not good.

This world’s Jongdae, well… looking at him is like looking into the past, and it hurts so fucking much.

Jongdae still has a distant expression though, his thoughts obviously wandering off, and Baekhyun hates the way something that has been lying dormant inside him for so long just reawakens again to comfort him, reaching out and curling his fingers around Jongdae’s wrist in reassurance.

“Your Baekhyun may be in my world,” he tells Jongdae, squeezing, once. “But he is also with my friends. I have no doubts they'll be helping him return to you as soon as possible too.”

Jongdae looks up at Baekhyun, smiling softly. “You’re right,” he relents, relaxing, and a part of Baekhyun relaxes alongside him. Fuck, his heart aches with old memories that being with Jongdae resuscitates, and this is exactly the sort of shit Baekhyun had been afraid of to begin with. “He’ll come home. I know it.”

Baekhyun nods, pulling his hand away. He shoves his fingers into his hoodie pockets just to stop them from doing anything stupid, _again_. Something that might mean more than simple wrist-holding.

“Hey, are you hungry?” Jongdae suggests suddenly. “I mean, it’s like, still breakfast time.” He bites his lip nervously, and Baekhyun sees the peace treaty for what it is --it appears this Jongdae is just as desperate to have everybody like him as much as Baekhyun’s Jongdae once did. “We could grab something to eat, if you want? I can show you all of my Baekhyun’s favourite places, and maybe you’ll like them just as much.”

He looks so unsure, so nervous, that Baekhyun doesn’t know how to say no. Has never known how to say no to Jongdae, no matter what iteration of him, apparently. He smiles hesitantly. “Sure.”

 

☀

 

Baekhyun really misses the sun.

“I don’t know how you guys do it,” he says, sighing, staring at the endless black sky, blotted by clouds. “The darkness,” he clarifies. “Just... Constantly.”

Jongin and Sehun look at each other across the fire between them, then shrug.

“We don’t know any alternatives,” Sehun suggests softly, and Baekhyun shifts guiltily, pitying. He swallows, focusing on the way Jongin whittles a stick he’d snapped from a dead tree instead.

“Why are you doing that, anyway?” he asks, distracting from the topic of how much worse and inferior and miserable this world is compared to his own, Sehun and Jongin have already gone through enough shit as is, they don’t need to hear about how there’s another universe out there where they can live without fearing for their lives. It would probably be salt in the wound, at this rate.

“I’m making more anchors,” Jongin explains, pulling out a handful of wooden bears from his pocket. “I’m running out. Figured I’m going to need to start dropping a whole lot more if we’re on the run until we can work out what to do with the core.”

Baekhyun nods dazedly, picking up one of the small bears. “Why bears?” he asks. The carving is pretty bad and rushed but they’re so… cute. So non-badass, for a super mutant.

Jongin shrugs awkwardly. “I like bears, I dunno. There has to be emotional attachment between my anchors for it to work, when I make pairs of something I like myself they just… work.”

Baekhyun blinks. “So like… anything could be your anchor? It doesn’t have to be a tiny wooden bear?”

“Not necessarily, yeah.” Jongin shrugs. “I can use any object I have emotional attachment to, as long as it has a counterpart that I’m carrying. There’s just err, not a whole lot of those lying around. I kinda need them to be disposable.”

Baekhyun nods, distantly, staring at the anchors, and wondering if there’s some way to get one of those into his home world so Jongin can teleport them there. It has to possible, right? There has to be some way.

“Hey,” Baekhyun says, perking up. “You said you need to have strong emotional attachment to the object but-- what if it _you’re_ not the one with strong emotional attachment to it? Like, y’know, mooching off your neighbour’s wifi or something? Using somebody else’s connection?”

“Well… in theory, maybe,” Jongin offers offhandedly, giving Baekhyun hope. “But like I said, my anchors have counterparts. Even if there’s something in your world with a crazy emotional attachment strong enough to pull us over there… you’d have to have a counterpart you’re equally as attached to with you here.”

Baekhyun deflates, predictably. All he has is his wallet phone and keys, the usual sort of combo, none of which he has any particular strong emotional attachment to. His phone like, maybe, but he cares more about what it can do, rather than what it is. About the most sentimental thing on his person right now is the _Bleach_ keychain Jongdae gave him for his thirteenth birthday, but it’s not like that has a counterpart.

“Well, what about the other me?” Baekhyun asks, still clinging onto his last few scraps of hope. “Did he have like, a favourite pen he always carries with him but might have left the pen lid here?”

Sehun and Jongin exchange skeptical glances. “Baekhyun was like the rest of us,” Sehun replies curtly. “We don’t really get the luxury of having possessions…” he trails off, a somber mood falling over them. Damn, just as Baekhyun thought they were getting somewhere, he's plunged back into despair. Lovely.

Sehun straightens suddenly in realisation. “Wait,” he urges, causing Baekhyun and Jongin to quickly look at him. “There is…. There might be something but. It’s a gamble. I can’t promise Baekhyun is carrying it, and I can’t promise we’ll find the counterpart either but. It’s something.”

“What?” Baekhyun asks, frantic. “What is it?”

Sehun swallows, wincing. “You’re not going to like it.”

 

☾

 

“No.”

“Come _onnnnn_ ,” Jongdae whines. Baekhyun regrets ever letting this Jongdae be a part of his temporary life on this earth, because now he won’t leave Baekhyun alone. “You have to. You promised not to ruin my Baekhyun’s life!”

“I don’t even know how to play,” Baekhyun hisses, trying to wrench Jongdae off of him, to no avail. “Can’t we just tell this coach I’m sick, or something?”

“Without a medical certificate he won’t believe you,” Jongdae pouts. It’s infuriatingly endearing. “He’ll kick you off the team if you don’t play, and then my Baekhyun will be devastated.”

 _If he ever makes it back_ , Baekhyun thinks, but of course, doesn’t say. The more time he spends around this Jongdae, the easier it is to pretend it’s just… the old Jongdae, and the harder it is to refuse him.

“Fine,” Baekhyun relents. “Then I’ll come to this… ‘Football match’.”

Jongdae’s grin is positively blinding.

Baekhyun is already uncomfortable going to his other self’s mandatory classes and dealing with a few small waves and nods of acknowledgement here and there, going into a locker room is just absolutely daunting. Men keep yelling, people cheer at Baekhyun as he walks through, Junmyeon’s duplicate says _nice for you to show up, Byun_ , and they’re all half-naked and wearing skin-tight clothing. It’s fucking bizarre, this world never ceases to perplex Baekhyun.

“You won’t even have to play because you just get benched every match anyway,” Jongdae reassures for the umpteenth time, a comforting hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder that he doesn’t shrug off. “You’ll be fine.”

Baekhyun tries to believe him, but he’s witnessed firsthand how oddly good this world’s Jongdae is at lying, which doesn’t help is inherent Jongdae trust issues given to him by _his_ Jongdae. Regardless, he follows his instructions of getting dressed into the team uniform (once Jongdae opens the locker door for him) stripping down naked.

The entire room wolf whistles immediately, cheering at his nude body; Baekhyun glances around.

“Why are they celebrating my nudity?” he asks Jongdae, who is pointedly not making eye contact with Baekhyun, cheeks a little red as he stares ahead into his locker.

“Um, because we don’t really just. Go commando all the time and then show it off?”

Baekhyun glances down at his body, wondering if he’s meant to be ashamed, given by Jongdae’s embarrassment. “How strange. We all look the same underneath clothes, do we not?” Baekhyun only wears clothes to keep warm  that’s why everyone does. There’s no shame to be found in nudity.

“I-- I guess,” Jongdae squeaks, and Baekhyun narrows his eyes at him.

“You claimed your feelings were confusing, yet clearly you are attracted to the other me if I cause this reaction,” he points out, causing Jongdae to let out a small noise of suffering.

“Okay but attraction doesn’t equal feelings and my Baekhyun isn’t buff and can you _please put some clothes on oh my god_.”

Baekhyun smiles, despite himself, having always enjoyed making Jongdae flustered, and tugs on the strange, tight-fitting pants that this football uniform insists upon. Jongdae seems to relax, somewhat, once Baekhyun’s genitals are covered, but flusters all over again as Baekhyun watches the way Jongdae takes off his pants only to reveal a second, much smaller pair of pants he wears underneath, barely even covering the tops of his thighs. Bizarre.

“Even my Baekhyun is a little more subtle about watching me undress,” Jongdae mumbles bitterly, giving Baekhyun a sideways glance, but he stops, suddenly, as his eyes take in Baekhyun’s chest, inhaling sharply.

A hand raises up and brushes over a scar on Baekhyun’s shoulder, fingertips warm against his skin. Baekhyun feels the chills elicited in response.

“That must have hurt a lot,” Jongdae mumbles absentmindedly, fingers moving down Baekhyun’s abdomen to another scar, just above his kidney.

“Laser bullet wound,” Baekhyun explains, and watches Jongdae touch the scar above his navel. “Icicle slash.” He then touches the one on Baekhyun’s shoulder, Baekhyun feeling the way his body pushes into the touch. He exhales, trying to keep himself composed. “Fell out of a moving hover-truck.”

The last one has Jongdae’s fingertips tracing out the ridges of Baekhyun’s spine, until they stop at the scar in the centre of his back, the one Baekhyun knows is the most noticeable, and the most distinct. It’s bright red and still not fully healed, the distinct slash of a knife through his spine surrounded by thin, raised bumps of skin spreading out across the lower half of his back like Lichtenberg figures.

“Stab wound with an electrified knife,” Baekhyun says quietly, fingers touching the pendant around his neck at the memory. “Courtesy of yours truly.”

“... I did that?” Jongdae asks softly, aghast and pale, and Baekhyun nods, watching the way Jongdae’s hand quivers as he pulls back.

“The night you betrayed me and killed Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun continues coldly, feeling the way his heart disconnects itself all over again as it has a habit of doing whenever he relives the bad memories.

“Jesus Christ,” Jongdae breathes out. “I’m really an asshole, huh?”

Baekhyun laughs quietly, despite himself. “Yes.”

They’re interrupted by the high-pitched shrill of a whistle. “Game time boys!” A chubby man in a pinstriped tee Baekhyun can only assume to be the coach yells, everyone bustling to huddle in a circle which Baekhyun joins in, watching them throw their hands into the middle and then let out a loud cheer, Jongdae included.

“Enjoy warming the bench!” Jongdae tells him, slapping one of the stupidly large shoulder pads Baekhyun has been forced into wearing, which he grunts at before doing exactly that, taking a seat behind their loudly yelling coach.

Football is incredibly boring to witness, is what Baekhyun decides, watching the different coloured members run up and down a large green field while the audience in the stand goes absolutely nuts…. He doesn’t really get the point. In his world, people enjoy simple ball games, like throw and catch and pin-knock, this just seems like an unnecessarily large version of a game with too many rules, like the sort of games Jongdaae invented when they were children, adding more and more rules as time went on to ensure he’d win. Stupid.

It is, at the very least, interesting to watch Jongdae, with a giant _21_ plastered on his back --of fucking course his mutant ID tag is his jersey number the same way Baekhyun’s is, the multiverses love irony-- run very very quickly up and down the field, avoiding all the people that try to tackle him. It’s amusing to see; Jongdae is surprisingly nimble, despite his obvious lacking size.

By half time, the group has huddled again, and it’s only Jongdae’s incessant, frantic _come here_ gesture that makes Baekhyun get off of his sufficiently warmed bench to gather.

“We’re doing well boys,” the coach says, and Baekhyun idly wonders why the teams are male only. Surely it would be beneficial to have more women? The only women on the field Baekhyun has spotted as of yet have been the ones in tiny skirts chanting incessantly by the sidelines. Soojung would scoff. “But just keep an eye out for that number six. He’s nasty.”

They do the same huddle-hand-yell thing and Baekhyun returns to the comfort of his bench, eyes returning to Jongdae subsequently. He seems to be quite good at the game, transporting the ball far as required of him, and it makes Baekhyun kind of… proud? Which is weird, because a positive emotion isn’t something he’s associated with Jongdae in… a very long time, but this Jongdae is comforting. Familiar. They’ve spent almost every hour of every day together ever since visiting Heechul, and they seem to have some sort of strange friendship, a balance between what Jongdae and his Baekhyun have mixed with what Baekhyun and his Jongdae once had.

Very jarring indeed.

Baekhyun is so busy watching Jongdae run, he completely fails to spot the enemy team member heading straight towards him, barreling into Jongdae hard enough that he’s knocked into the air before falling onto his back.

A whistle is blown, and Baekhyun is on the field before he can even register it, sprinting towards Jongdae and pulling off his helmet to assess the damage. Jongdae groans.

“I’m okay, Hyun,” he reassures, but this time Baekhyun sees through his lie. Jongdae tries to push him off weakly, and fails, cursing as he looks down at his ankle.

“You’re bleeding,” Baekhyun says, and touches Jongdae’s forehead wound, where his helmet must have knocked against his skull. Jongdae smiles at him.

“Eh, I’ll live, don’t worry about it,” he takes Baekhyun’s wrist, pulling his hand down, and the coach finally catches up to them.

“Are you alright, Kim?” he asks, kneeling beside Baekhyun.

Jongdae shakes his head. “I think my ankle is sprained.”

“I told you to watch out for that number six--”

“How can you possibly blame him for this?” Baekhyun snaps, fingers tightening around Jongdae’s, feeling his power surge a little inside him, ebbing alongside his irritation. Well. That’s not good.

The coach gives Baekhyun a disappointed expression, then hoists Jongdae up. “C’mon Kim, you can ice it from the sidelines. Byun--” He points at Baekhyun. “--You’re up. No jewelry on the field, though. It’s dangerous”

The coach reaches for the necklace above Baekhyun’s _04_ , but he steps back in time, hissing.

“This stays with me,” Baekhyun mutters lowly. The coach gives him a lingering look, but relents, using the hand that isn’t around Jongdae’s waist to point at the grassy field as an order, and Baekhyun blinks, a little startled, while Jongdae just gives him a helpless expression and hobbles away. Great.

The enemy team’s leader shouts a string of numbers Baekhyun doesn’t understand as he stands on the grass (and then is pointed exasperatedly to a different position by Lu Han's counterpart) taking everyone else’s cue and crouching over, and then suddenly a buzzer goes off and everyone starts running.

Bizarre.

It’s the enemy team that has the ball, and Baekhyun steps back to adjust his bearings, vaguely hearing the coach in the background yell _what the hell are you doing Byun_ but paying it no mind. He narrows his eyes to locate the enemy with the number 06 on his jersey, and smiles to himself accordingly. There.

Lucky for him, 06 is headed straight his way with the ball and everything; Baekhyun sprints towards him in an instant, and easily knocks him over.

A whistle is blown, somebody claps Baekhyun’s shoulder in congratulations, they restart.

Baekhyun waits for 06 to get the ball before tackling him down again.

The restart after that, the ball is given to a different player, so Baekhyun knocks that person over instead. Rinse and repeat. By the fourth time, the whistle is blown loudly, and this time, it’s Baekhyun’s team that ends up with the ball. How strange.

Junmyeon yells out another string of incomprehensible numbers, and then Baekhyun finds the ball being thrown into his hands. Huh.

He stares at it, it’s weird, oval shaped and made of leather, a dark brown, it’s kind of big and he can barely hold it.

“What are you doing Byun  _run!_ ” Junmyeon calls, as Baekhyun frowns at him while walking forward and side-stepping one of the enemy players that attempts to tackle him effortlessly.

“What am I meant to do with this?” he asks, approaching Junmyeon, who seems to be almost wrestling with an enemy player. “Can I give this to you?”

“BAEKHYUN,” Baekhyun hears suddenly, turning to face the loud shout and seeing Jongdae on the sidelines standing with his hands cupped around his mouth. “RUN.”

Jongdae knows best, Baekhyun figures, shrugging before taking the ball and running. The enemy team retaliate accordingly heading for him immediately, but they were raised in this world, where running is a pastime and nothing chases at their heels; Baekhyun is much, much faster than all of them, and dodging their tackles is even easier when he’s not doing it in the eternal darkness of his own world. It’s almost nothing compared to trying to block his Jongdae’s lightning quick strikes, and before Baekhyun knows it he has run as far as the white lines painted in the grass indicate he can, and the crowd is roaring in his ears.

“TOUCHDOWN!!!!” A voice booms over the speakers, and Baekhyun is a little overwhelmed by the way his teammates tackle him --this time, in a hugging manner-- cheering his name and hoisting him onto their shoulders. The buzzer sounds, and the countdown clock is at all zeroes. Given by the points indicated on the same board, Baekhyun assumes they’ve won.

“You were so-- _amazing_!!” Jongdae remarks as Baekhyun walks back towards his coach and is quickly enveloped in a hug by Jongdae, who’s laughing incredulously. Baekhyun has barely even registered the last five minutes of his life, perplexed. “I’ve never seen anybody _move_ like that, what the hell?”

Well, his Jongdae taught him well, it seems, but Baekhyun doesn’t say that. He feels a little warm under this Jongdae’s praise.

“Well done, Byun,” the coach nods sagely. “I… really didn’t think you had it in you.” He looks almost insultingly surprised. Something tells Baekhyun his counterpart isn’t exactly an athletic legend. “Hit the showers, boys! You smell like my socks.”

The team grumbles in agreement, more congratulations given to Baekhyun before he offers Jongdae an arm who accepts it with mumbled gratitude, hobbling along. He doesn’t seem to be too hurt, now that he’s put ice on his ankle, just a slight limp.

Baekhyun showers the dirt and sweat off his body, grateful to be out of the constricting oversized football uniform, and sighs beneath the hot water spray --yet another thing to love about this world. He spends a lot longer underneath the shower than he probably should, because when he comes out the locker room is empty save for Jongdae sitting on the bench in normal clothes again, scrolling through his phone in the quiet. When he looks up and sees Baekhyun emerging, he smiles. (Baekhyun, having taken Jongdae’s cues, has at least wrapped a towel around his waist, this time.)

“Hey,” Jongdae greets. “Enjoying your special you-time in the shower?” He’s waggling his eyebrows, implying there’s a joke somewhere in there, but if there is, Baekhyun doesn’t get it.

“Showers are enjoyable,” Baekhyun shrugs, inputting the code to his locker. “Most things in this world are enjoyable.” Even playing football had kind of turned out to be fun, if not horrendously boring to watch and a little too easy. This world has hardly any cons in it at all.

“If you like showers just wait ‘till you see the post-game diner Hyun and I always eat at,” Jongdae’s grin, as always, is blinding, but Baekhyun commits it to memory all the same. Can’t help himself, really. “Two words man: unlimited fries.”

“That certainly does sound enjoyable…” Baekhyun muses. The last time Jongdae had taken him out to eat, Baekhyun had tried almost everything on the menu --under Jongdae’s insistence, of course-- and now he’s pretty sure Jongdae just enjoys watching him eat anything in sight, even if he complains about Baekhyun’s freakish mutant body not putting on a single pound. “I like fries.”

“Most people do,” Jongdae replies with an amused smile, looking away suddenly once Baekhyun drops his towel and turning red. Baekhyun smiles. “... Asshole,” Jongdae mutters as he turns back around, seeing Baekhyun’s smirk.

“I can’t help it,” Baekhyun teases. “You’re too easy to embarrass. It’s cute.”

Jongdae looks at Baekhyun like he’s grown a second head as Baekhyun just smiles to himself and pulls out his clothes from before, tugging them back on. They’re so much more comfortable and soft than the stupid football uniform, god forbid he ever wear that again.

Jongdae still looks unbelievably flustered, so Baekhyun decides to show him mercy, smiling down at him. “My Jongdae was always the one embarrassing me,” he admits, remembering the way Jongdae used to tug him aside during group meetings, press him into the shadows and whisper terrible things into Baekhyun’s ear with his lips at his throat--

“Before he turned into the worst human alive,” Jongdae says flatly, and Baekhyun feels all the warmth from before turn to ice again, fingertips absentmindedly brushing beneath his own jaw as if he can still feel the ghost of Jongdae’s lips, fingernails dragging over the chain of his pendant.

“Yes,” Baekhyun replies flatly, slamming the locker door shut. “Before that.”

Jongdae looks down guiltily, but then swallows before saying, “You don’t have to go back to him, you know. You can stay here. With me.”

Baekhyun’s head snaps towards him immediately, eyes narrowing.

“You would abandon your Baekhyun?” he asks, wondering if maybe his Jongdae and this one _do_ have a lot more in common than what appears on the surface.

“What? _No_ ,” Jongdae quickly replies. “No no no no no I just-- you know, we could find a way to bring him here and you could. Stay.”

“And third-wheel an alternate version of myself with the alternate version of my ex-lover?” Baekhyun suggests amusedly, tilting his head. “I don’t think any of us will enjoy that.”

“You don’t have to stay with _us_ but you could still… get a job… go to school... live here… I dunno, it can’t be impossible.” Jongdae curls into himself a little, embarrassed, knees tucked to his chest with his feet on the bench, scratching at the edge of the bandage taped to his forehead. “I just… I don’t really... Want you to go back to a horrible other dimension where a version of me tries to kill you all the time? I guess I’m being selfish, but I’m not sure how I’m meant to sleep at night knowing that I let that happen.”

Baekhyun softens, heart aching at a classic Jongdae brand of kindness, and he smiles. No one has ever tried to give him a home before, certainly not one in a world filled with more light than he deserves.

“I don’t really want to leave either,” Baekhyun admits, sitting down in front of Jongdae, who mirrors his positions, knees on either side of the narrow bench. “I… like this universe. A lot.”

It’s bizarre and stupid and doesn’t make sense most of the time, but it’s peaceful and filled with light and laughter and happiness and it’s just so _easy_ , so easy to attend class and eat food all day and walk amongst society without worrying about being caught for being a mutant, or worse, being caught for being himself. Even worse than that, this version of Earth has an iteration of Jongdae who isn’t evil, who isn’t twisted, who’s exactly like the man Baekhyun once knew --if not softer-- and who’s hopelessly in love with Baekhyun --even if it’s not _Baekhyun_ Baekhyun. It’s kind of a dream come true, all things considered.

“Then stay,” Jongdae insists firmly, and Baekhyun leans forward and kisses him.

Temptation, that all it takes, a little pinch of temptation and Baekhyun succumbs, it seems, unable to fight the urge to kiss this Jongdae when he brings back muscle memory of another life where Baekhyun had never learnt to fight the instinct to kiss Jongdae. It isn’t even his Jongdae, and Baekhyun isn’t even Jongdae’s Baekhyun, but apparently that means nothing as their mouths touch, softly, caring only that they are Baekhyun and Jongdae, and then Baekhyun pulls back, briefly, searching Jongdae’s face.

It’s Jongdae who leans back in, hungrier and desperate, having tasted something he wants to taste again, and Baekhyun lets him, heart sighing in contentedness at having something that has been deprived from him for too long --even if this isn’t the Jongdae Baekhyun first fell in love with, he is still _Jongdae_ , and it appears his body knows this well as he bites Jongdae’s bottom lip and elicits the same moan as always, sucks on his tongue and gets the same feeling of nails digging into his biceps.

Jongdae arches into Baekhyun, kneeling on the bench for a better angle, and Baekhyun retaliates instead by picking him up altogether, hoisting Jongdae’s legs around his hips and slamming him back into the locker doors with a metallic thump. This Jongdae doesn’t even kiss like Baekhyun’s Jongdae, but his mouth has the same taste to it, the same warmth, kisses back with the same fervor. Baekhyun’s heart has been drowning for too long and this Jongdae is air, refreshing and clear to breathe in as his lips brush along his jaw, his throat, beneath his ear.

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae moans, fingers winding through Baekhyun’s hair, and it’s the way he says it that just makes Baekhyun… stop. Pause. Mouth clamping shut before he draws back slowly, and lowers Jongdae to the ground again, who blinks at him, dazedly, trying to make sense of this after the sudden whiplash of lust turning to regret.

“I can’t stay here,” Baekhyun says quietly, the words he’s always known but hasn’t dared voice. “And we-- we are not replacements for our other selves.” This time he looks up at Jongdae, meeting his lust-blown eyes and the way he searches Baekhyun’s face before lowering his gaze in guilt.

“You’re right,” Jongdae mumbles, slamming a fist into the lock behind him. “Fuck, I--” he doesn’t say anything more, just cuts off, slumping dejectedly.

“I’m sorry for kissing you,” Baekhyun apologises. “I was caught up in old memories and well, I find it… difficult. To forget you are not the person I once loved.”

“I’m sorry for kissing you back,” Jongdae offers with a timid half-smile. It’s infuriatingly attractive, but so is most Jongdae-related things. “I guess you and I have the same sort of problem.”

Baekhyun nods, both torn from the ones they love, both seeking to heal the hurt left behind. Except Jongdae has merely been presented with the situation of having potentially lost his opportunity to be with his Baekhyun, and is using Baekhyun to make up for his mistakes; Baekhyun lost Jongdae long ago, and has no excuse for acting the way he did.

“Let’s just… let’s just go grab those fries, okay?” Jongdae offers, diffusing the tension as always with a genuine that smile that helps Baekhyun relax. “And uh. Not mention that once my Baekhyun gets back.”

Baekhyun returns the smile, despite everything, laughing softly. “Good plan.”

 

☀

 

Baekhyun stares at the steel wall in front of him, and gulps.

 _Mutants can’t enter the city walls though_ , Jongin had pointed out, when Sehun had suggested his ridiculous plan.

“Good thing I’m not a mutant,” Baekhyun mutters to himself at the memory, walking through the walls with ease. The genetic scanners only check for the mutant gene at its odd absorbance wavelength --an entire DNA scan takes too long, requires too much high tech, and costs too much money-- according to Jongin, so Baekhyun has easy access through the grim, desolate city.

And god, what a grim, desolate city it is, with tall steel towers that loom like shadowy figures beneath the black clouds and dirty snow. The Red Vault stands out in the centre of the city, a pillar of crimson glass and iron as if forged in blood, but that’s not what Baekhyun is interested in. Well, not exactly.

Baekhyun inhales slowly as he touches the tiny wooden bears in his pocket for reassurance, knowing Jongin can leap in and leap out at anytime if he’s in trouble, communicator static fizzling in his ear. According to Sehun, Jongdae --who it turns out, is the _sole_ person who can sense mutant EMPs, woah-- will be occupied tracking down the threat of Jongin’s pulse near the outer walls, which gives Baekhyun maybe a twenty-minute window to sneak into his apartment and try and steal some stupid necklace that probably won’t even be there. Great.

Baekhyun keeps his hood up, sure to shy away from any cameras when he spots them, and follows the little holographic map popped up on Sehun’s communicator that he’d borrowed, leading him to the known location of Jongdae’s residency. Apparently, all the mutant pets are kept to one building like livestock, disconnected from the city out of fear --the thought makes Baekhyun shudder.

Baekhyun arrives at the door to the building rather anticlimactically. It’s depressingly quiet, and he has a feeling that has to do with the fact that nobody in this city goes outside if they can avoid it, and that all the mutants are currently responding to Jongin’s unknown threat.

“Okay I’m here,” Baekhyun breathes out. “What now?”

“ _You still got that key I gave you?”_ Sehun asks, and Baekhyun gives him a quick affirmation before pulling out the small electronic device, really more of a USB key than like… a door key. " _There should be a buzzer panel in the wall to your left. Rip it off and find the red wire, then connect it to that_.”

“Okay…” Baekhyun tries. Easier said than done, but he does as he’s told, eventually. There’s a pointed silence on Sehun’s end, and then the door clicks open. “Oh holy shit.”

“ _You taught me how to do that, actually_ ,” Sehun explains as Baekhyun steps through, following Sehun’s quick directions to take the elevator to the twentieth floor. " _The other you_."

“And how the hell did I learn how to do that?” Baekhyun mumbles, while impatiently waiting for the elevator to go up. The camera swivels to his face and wiggles --fucking Sehun.

“ _Well, I think Jongdae probably taught you. He’s freakishly good with technology._ ”

“More talented than me in all universes,” Baekhyun mumbles, without any bitterness, and steps out into the hallway. “Okay, which door am I looking for?”

“ _First one on your right,”_ Sehun tells him. “ _You don’t have much time. I can only stall the firewall on the security system for so long before I lose control and your presence is detected_.”

“That’s okay,” Baekhyun reassures, although his heart is pounding wildly and he feels he might just have a panic attack at any moment. He swallows the anxiety down. “I only need a few minutes.”

Under the assumption that Baekhyun could even _be_ successful, of course. Sehun had warned that this would be a huge gamble, and he’s right, because they’re currently running under three assumptions here: 1) that Jongdae still has a fraction of good left in him and therefore has actually kept the necklace, 2) that he actually has any attachment to it, maintaining a strong enough bond for Jongin to tap into, and 3) that Baekhyun can find it. Baekhyun isn’t sure which of the hypotheticals is the hardest one to accomplish, as of yet.

But he’s beginning to think it’s the third, because Jongdae’s tiny apartment is fucking spotless, polished white floors and ceiling with burning halogen lights, nothing but a crisply made bed in the centre and a small white table with a white desk. Cool.

“Didn’t you all say Jongdae turned on you for wealth and power?” Baekhyun mumbles, and finds it hard to believe, because this feels a lot more like a prison cell than it does an apartment, like maybe Jongdae is as oppressed by the government working for them as everyone is running away. It’s so completely plain and alien, so wholly un-Jongdae, that Baekhyun feels his gut curl just looking at it.

“ _The necklace, Baekhyun_ ,” Sehun pointedly reminds Baekhyun as he stands there and stares. “ _F_ _ind it_.”

“Right,” Baekhyun blurts, finding the room oddly daunting, and looks for any places where something _could_ be hidden. He can’t feel anything in the single pillow, nothing under the bed or the table or in the vents… he pulls up the thin mattress to similar results, pausing only when he hears the distinct crinkle of paper, feeling under the fitted sheet before finding a tiny folded square tucked into where the sheet elastic meets the plastic. Paper. Baekhyun hasn’t seen any of this stuff in this world, everything done on their fancy holo-tech shit, but when he unfolds the paper his eyes widen at what he sees.

Blueprints. Blueprints for the fucking Red Vault, with a circle drawn around a small room in the centre, where it has been annotated with _orbs?_ Another room, just above that, has been circled vigorously with one word above it: _Eclipse_. 

Jongdae's handwriting is the same in this universe.

“ _Did you find the necklace?_ ” Sehun asks.

“No,” Baekhyun replies. “But I found… well, I’m not sure what. Why would Jongdae be keeping blueprints for the Red Vault hidden in his room?”

“ _What?_ ” Sehun asks. “ _What are you talking about?”_

Baekhyun doesn’t answer him, reaching for his communicator and wondering if it has a camera function --surprisingly, he can’t see a lens, and if it does have one, Baekhyun has no fucking clue how to use it, so he reaches for his own phone instead, switching it on  and waiting as the tiny apple symbol mocks him.

“Come on you piece of shit,” Baekhyun knocks the cracked screen against his leg, as if that will make it turn on any faster.

“ _Baekhyun, you’re running out of time_ ,” Sehun warns. “ _The key is losing charge_.”

“I’m nearly done, okay?” Baekhyun argues, as he slides open the lock of his phone screen and thumbs in his passcode, 2109, to get past the lockscreen selfie of him and Jongdae. He opens the camera app and snaps a pic of the blueprints in front of him, before folding it back up and putting it where he found it, with a small wooden bear alongside it, so that Baekhyun can come and search for the necklace later. “I just need to--”

The door opens, and Baekhyun blinks at the other Jongdae, who stares at him.

“ _You_ ,” he says, accusatory, and the door slams shut behind him as he presses a button against the wall, clicking as it locks. “What are you doing here?”

Jongdae is positively fuming, and Baekhyun whimpers pathetically.

“Um,” he says. “Looking for some jewelry?” He swallows nervously. “Hey did you decorate this room or what--”

“What happened to Baekhyun?” Jongdae snaps, cold and so so scary, but also, still sort of Jongdae? So Baekhyun finds it hard to be threatened. “The _real_ Baekhyun.”

“ _Baekhyun, stall_ ,” Sehun urges in his left ear. “ _Jongin needs time to recharge before he can leap to save you_.”

Great. “I don’t know, what happened to you?” Baekhyun asks, stepping back at the same time Jongdae steps forward. “I mean, you know. My Jongdae is a lot less of an asshole.”

Jongdae's fingertips are crackling with electricity now as he raises his hand in threat, eyes narrowing at Baekhyun. “ _Your..._ Jongdae?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun replies, gulping nervously. Come _on_ Jongin, Jesus fuck. “My Jongdae… I’m um. From an alternate dimension?”

That at least makes Jongdae’s hand fall, staring at Baekhyun, and then he just laughs, a grating crackle that doesn’t sound like Jongdae’s laugh in the slightest.

“Oh please.” He rolls his eyes, scowling. “You expect me to believe that?”

“I’m not lying,” Baekhyun huffs, puffing out his chest. Fuck, he needs to buy more Jongdae-not-murdering him time. An idea strikes. “Look.”

Baekhyun pulls out his phone from his back pocket, and holds it up, displaying the selfie of him and Jongdae set as his background. Baekhyun had taken it, of course, squished Jongdae’s cheek against his as they’d both thrown up lazy peace signs, and had set it as his lockscreen just to piss off Jongdae as he’d whined that the photo looked bad. (Also partly because looking at it made him smile, every time.)

The look on Jongdae’s face is myriad of expressions Baekhyun can’t pinpoint, shock, reluctance, pain… jealousy? But at least his hand falls, no longer crackling with blue electricity.

Jongdae regards Baekhyun coolly. “You’re from another timeline.”

Baekhyun shrugs. “More like another reality.” At least sating this Jongdae’s curiosity stops him from fucking frying Baekhyun on the spot and turning him into electrocuted dust, if nothing else. “And now I’m trying to get back. Hence why I’m here.”

“Oh?” A single eyebrow arches, and Jongdae smiles bitterly, almost cruelly. “And how will this help you return to your reality, exactly?”

At that he reaches beneath the collar of his white shirt, and pulls out a small silver pendant, dangling on a metal chain. Baekhyun gasps.

“The necklace!” He says. “You _did_ keep it!”

Jongdae’s eyes narrow. “So what if I did?” He cocks his head, almost robotic. “It’s useful for messing with Baekhyun, every now and again. The real Baekhyun.”

“Give it to me,” Baekhyun insists, thrusting out a hand. “Give it to me and we can get your Baekhyun back.”

Jongdae laughs, a sharp cackle, clashing with dissonance against the sweetness of his laugh recorded permanently in Baekhyun’s head. “ _My_ Baekhyun?” He repeats, and it would almost sound daunting, if Baekhyun couldn’t see the way it cracks against Jongdae’s skin. “And why would I want him back? All he is is a thorn in my side.”

Baekhyun grits his teeth together. “Because if you’re anything like my Jongdae, you love him,” Baekhyun states firmly, and finds weird satisfaction in the way Jongdae’s composure fractures, if only just, entire body tensing as if bracing for a strike. “And you… you are like my Jongdae, I know it. I can feel it.” Baekhyun places his hands over his heart, searching Jongdae’s face. “You want him back, don’t you? You want to help. That’s why you keep blueprints under your bed, that’s why you keep the necklace--”

Baekhyun is cut off by the blaring of sirens, and the sound of footsteps rushing down the hallway, banging on Jongdae’s bedroom door.

“ _Shit, Baekhyun! He was stalling too!”_

“Fuck,” Baekhyun lets out, but when he steps back he thankfully collides into a solid chest, Jongin’s hands steadying around his arms. There goes any hope of this Jongdae actually wanting his Baekhyun back, he was only biding his time all along--

“Perfect timing, right?” Jongin says, with a cheesy little grin, and Baekhyun swallows before shoving him off, launching himself into Jongdae, and using every football skill he has to knock Jongdae to the ground and disorient him, reaching for the chain and tugging.

Jongdae’s hand wraps around his wrist as it pulls, keeping him in place, and Baekhyun braces himself for electrocution or to be thrown off, but it never comes, only finding Jongdae’s broken desperate face searching his, so completely different to the sadistic mask of before.

“Take me with you,” Jongdae begs, as Jongin leaps in and snatches the necklace off his neck. Jongdae’s hand tightens around Baekhyun’s, who’s frozen in place, unable to move. “ _Please_.”

“Baekhyun I-- I can feel it!” Shouts Jongin, but all noise drowns out as Baekhyun and Jongdae stare at each other, Baekhyun looking into Jongdae’s eyes and seeing… seeing _his_ Jongdae beneath it, if not a little broken and desperate and frightened. “There’s an anchor I can _feel_ it, I can make the leap, c’mon!” Jongin holds out a hand, waiting for Baekhyun to take it, and he pulls off of Jongdae slowly, still staring at him as something silent passes between them.

Jongdae said please.

The door to his room slides open, revealing a group of armed soldiers pointing guns their way as Jongin hands clasps around Baekhyun’s wrist, but the bullets pass through them, already beginning to dissipate into smoke and particles of nothing as Jongin’s manifest pulls them into the void.

Baekhyun can never say no to Jongdae, especially when he says please. No matter which universe he's from

“ _Jongdae--_ ” Baekhyun shouts finally, reaching out with a disintegrating hand. Jongdae reaches for him immediately.

Their fingertips brush.

The world goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had to fuckn... learn how gridiron works for this. Disgusting.


	2. REUNION / DUSK

###### "Sometimes I have the strangest feeling about you. Especially when you are near me as you are now. It feels as though I had a string tied here under my left rib where my heart is, tightly knotted to you in a similar fashion. And when you go, with all that distance between us, I am afraid that this cord will be snapped, and I shall bleed inwardly." [[X](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10210.Jane_Eyre?ac=1&from_search=true)] 

 

☾

 

When Baekhyun wakes up, he feels like he’s dreaming.

How could he not be dreaming, after all, when there’s a blue sky in front of him and the feeling of a warm sun on his skin, speckled light filtered between browning tree leaves and his head in Jongdae’s lap, who’s smiling down at him.

“Morning sleepyhead,” Jongdae greets cheerily, and Baekhyun reaches out to touch his face, wondering if it’s an illusion.

“Jongdae…” he mumbles, and feels solid skin beneath his fingertips, before his eyes widen and he remembers where he is, sitting up suddenly, flustered.

“Dreaming of a different me?” Jongdae teases, and Baekhyun looks down in guilt and shame, curling his fingers into fists until his nails are digging moon-shaped crescents into his palm. “Understandable... I am incredibly good-looking.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, but has no room to argue, because he knows he’s in love with Jongdae in _two_ fucking universes, god only knows how many others on top of that.

“How did I fall asleep?” Baekhyun asks, not remembering himself.

“Uh.” Jongdae gives him an amused look. “You ate so much you passed out. It was really cute, like a puppy, I couldn’t wake you.” His lips twitch into a smile. “Even if we were meant to be studying…” he mutters.

Baekhyun shifts and hears the crinkle of a chips packet beneath him and… oh, right, Jongdae had promised to help him with one of these stupid assignments he had coming up... Baekhyun was baited by promises of sunshine, snacks, and time spent with Jongdae. He really has become too easy, living in this world, decades of sleep deprivation catching up to him as he falls asleep in the late afternoons and becomes wrapped up in the woes of hating college. Sometimes, rarely --and _only_ rarely-- Baekhyun forgets what darkness looks like, forgets the world he comes from and all the things it contains, has lived in his other self’s identity for so long it’s hard to forget they’re not one and the same, even though they’re so different.

Baekhyun fiddles with the pendant around his neck as he bites his lip, Jongdae shifting towards him as he does so. “Hey, I noticed… well, that necklace is yours, isn’t it?” he asks. “Not my Baekhyun’s. You always wear it… does it mean something to you?”

“Yes,” Baekhyun answers. It means lots of things. It means he can’t let go, no matter how hard he tries, it means there’s some naive part of him that still believes his Jongdae loves him; it means Baekhyun is a gullible idiot, a blind fool, a selfish coward. “It’s a memory. And a reminder.”

He’ll never be able to forget the way Jongdae had snapped his own copy off his neck. _Isn’t it obvious I never loved you?_

Slowly, Jongdae reaches out to gingerly touch the necklace, and Baekhyun lets him.

Except once his fingers touch the metal, a dark mist begins to pool around them, smelling of ozone, causing Jongdae to frown curiously, and Baekhyun to be just as bewildered.

Before he realises exactly what it is, and knocks Jongdae back, football tackle style, as Jongin materialises between them.

Except it’s not just Jongin; he has passengers.

Jongdae, still trapped underneath Baekhyun’s body, brightens and stands up immediately, running forward. “Baekhyun!”

Baekhyun --or rather, the other Baekhyun-- lets out a loud, “Ooff,” as his arms are quickly occupied by Jongdae, stumbling back from the force of his hug.

"I'm so glad you're back," Jongdae mumbles, shuddering briefly in shaky relief. "Don't ever leave me like that again."

But Baekhyun isn’t paying attention to any of that, really, more concerned by the _other_ passenger Jongin had brought with him, quickly stepping in front of Jongin and the Jongdae-Baekhyun hug hybrid, activating his powers and filling his body with light so that he glows threateningly as he stares Jongdae down.

Jongdae steps forward, hesitantly, and Baekhyun braces himself for the first strike, prepared to counterattack.

Only for his Jongdae to hug him too.

“You’re safe,” Jongdae mutters into the crook of Baekhyun’s neck, fingers curling into the back of his hoodie tightly. “You’re really safe…”

Baekhyun doesn’t even know what to do, although he feels his power dampen as Jongdae’s arms tighten around him, the fight slipping out.

“It’s okay,” other-Baekhyun says quietly, he and Jongdae having finally disconnected, although they're still touching. “He’s not here to hurt you.”

At that, Jongdae steps back, and their eyes meet, Baekhyun desperately searching his face for answers. What is going on?

“Ugghgg,” Jongin groans between them, stumbling on his feet. “I feel like throwing up.” He sways, about to blow over, and both Baekhyuns reach out for him, with the other Baekhyun getting their first, hoisting one of Jongin’s arms over his shoulders.

“C’mon big boy,” Other Baekhyun consoles cheerily, and it’s fucking bizarre for Baekhyun to watch, to see this mirror copy of him do… well, anything really. “Let’s get you some rest after that major leap and uh--” his eyes flit nervously between the Jongdae of this world and Baekhyun. “--maybe give the emo versions of ourselves some time to talk it out.”

He unsubtly jerks his head at his own Jongdae then, who quickly takes Jongin’s other arms and helps other Baekhyun lug him away. Subtle, other Baekhyun. Real subtle.

But Baekhyun doesn’t have time to berate himself --his other self, that is-- too busy looking at the guilt-ridden Jongdae in front of him and trying to make sense of the clashing emotions in his chest. This is _his_ Jongdae, Baekhyun knows, would know it even if here were blind and deaf, but _his_ Jongdae is also a traitor, and Baekhyun loathes him almost as much as he loves him.

“I was so worried,” Jongdae rambles, as Baekhyun just watches him, impassive but on guard. “When I felt your pulse disappear I-- I didn’t know what had happened, where you had gone I--”

Jongdae reaches forward, and Baekhyun steps back, confused by this broken, sobbing mess Jongdae has become. Is it as much a mask as the one Baekhyun fell in love with?

“What’re you talking about?” Baekhyun replies. “I wasn’t using my manifest.”

“Not your mutant pulse,” Jongdae clarifies. “ _Your_ pulse... every time _your_ heart beats, it sends out an electric impulse, and I-- I can feel it… I _know_ it.” He looks at Baekhyun desperately. “It didn’t even slow down, that day you got the core, it just-- disappeared.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen; so Jongdae could sense him all this time? Could always track him? Why hadn’t he, then?

“I was so fucking-- worried--” Jongdae sobs out, hand reaching to Baekhyun’s chest, but Baekhyun stops him by catching his wrist, staring at Jongdae.

“Don’t,” Baekhyun says, and his voice cracks. His grip tightens. “Don’t. Stop pretending like you still care about me.” His grip ought to be hurting by now, but Jongdae doesn’t so much as flinch. Baekhyun inhales shakily. “Haven’t you hurt me enough?” He's so terrified of where this is going, of what comes next, he wants to push Jongdae as far away as possiblle, as well as pull him closer.

“I was doing it for you, Baekhyun.” And there they are, the words Baekhyun has dread all this time, and equally craved. Jongdae’s eyes begin to water. “All this time-- I was doing it for us. For all of us. For _you_.”

Baekhyun can’t even process it, as all his worst fears and best dreams come true simultaneously, staring at Jongdae like he doesn’t even recognise him anymore --because truth be told, he doesn’t.

“...Why?” Baekhyun asks finally. “You fucking _idiot_.”

This time, it’s Baekhyun who hugs him, feeling Jongdae melt into his arms as they both dry sob in relief, in the middle of college campus in broad daylight, completely uncaring. Minutes pass, or maybe hours, but eventually Baekhyun pulls back, wiping at his --thankfully-- dry eyes.

“You better explain yourself right now Jongdae,” Baekhyun says. “Or I swear to Christ.”

(He’s picked up a lot of lingo, throughout his time here.)

Jongdae inhales slowly, closing his eyes briefly before giving Baekhyun the most open, honest expression Baekhyun has seen on him in years. He tries to tell himself that Jongdae could still be lying, that this could be another trick on top of the rest but… Baekhyun’s heart aches, and sings that it isn’t deceit, winning out over any logic that tries to hold him back.

“We always needed an inside to the RTF,” Jongdae begins explaining. “Because the only way to destroy something that big is from the inside-out. I suppose I… volunteered.”

“How could you not tell me?” Baekhyun snaps, and he’s so fucking angry and relieved both he doesn’t even know how to make sense of it. “How could you just-- make me think you _left_ \--”

“Because it had to be convincing,” Jongdae tries, taking Baekhyun’s hand into his and weaving their fingers together, imploring Baekhyun with his eyes alone. “And I _knew_ you’d either try to stop me or-- worse, join me, if I told you. Your hatred for me is what made it believable.”

“You made me hate you,” Baekhyun lets out in realisation, heaving out another dry sob. “You made me think you didn’t-- that you never--”

“I always have,” Jongdae bargains, trying to force Baekhyun to look at him by holding his face. “I promise. I never stopped.”

Baekhyun shakes his head, pulling back, part of him still refusing to succumb to Jongdae. Not again. “You attacked me,” he argues.

“I had to play the part,” Jongdae explains panickingly. “I always let you get away. I always made sure you were never hurt permanently--”

“You imprisoned Yixing!”

Jongdae is growing more frantic. “I prevented him from being murdered!”

“You _killed_ Kyungsoo!”

Jongdae’s face twists at that in conflict, looking away. His shoulders drop.

“I didn’t mean to,” his body is shaking, quivering. “He wasn’t meant to be there, Baekhyun, I didn’t-- I _swear_.”

But Baekhyun remembers that night all too clearly, Kyungsoo deciding to tag along because he didn’t like the idea of Baekhyun and Jongdae going alone --oh how right he’d been. When Jongdae had turned on them, the ambush had ended up with Kyungsoo shot straight through the heart, bleeding out in Baekhyun’s arms.

“If that’s what you tell yourself,” he spits out acidicly, placing distance between himself and the man he once knew.

“I’m not saying what I did doesn’t keep me up at night,” Jongdae mutters lowly, a cold sort of expression that’s just so wrong on his face. “And I’m not asking for your forgiveness. All I’m asking is that you understand, Baekhyun I’ve always been on your side. Always been _by_ your side. Right since the start.”

And Baekhyun? Baekhyun doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know how to react, doesn’t know what he’s meant to give Jongdae. It’s clear this act, this stupid plan of his, has changed something inside him, changed something between them --something has fractured and it will never the same. They can never be the whole they once were.

But at the same time, well, Jongdae doesn’t ask for forgiveness, yet Baekhyun had been giving it to him even when he truly believed Jongdae had turned. He doesn’t trust Jongdae, he doesn’t forgive him, doesn’t support his choices, and he doesn’t quite buy his truth, either but Baekhyun is still Baekhyun, and Jongdae is still Jongdae, and if there’s anything this world has taught him, it’s that their intertwined fate is kind of inevitable.

“Why did you never tell me?” Baekhyun asks quietly. “Why now?”

Jongdae looks at him with an unreadable expression, before slowly pulling down the collar of his white shirt, revealing his collarbone, where a red light blinks beneath the skin.

“It’s a tracking device,” Jongdae says, at Baekhyun stares at it, horrified. “And a bug. And all it takes is one button from the higher-ups to kill me. I can’t use a communicator, and every conversation I have, they’re listening.” Baekhyun reaches out, feeling the dip in Jongdae’s collarbone, and then the bump where the tracking device pokes out beneath his skin. “Coming here was my only chance to explain before Eclipse.”

Baekhyun pulls his hand back. “We have to take it out.”

“ _No_ ,” Jongdae argues. “It’s my only way into the vault--”

“You are not going back to the RTF,” Baekhyun argues. “ _Ever_. That’s final, Jongdae. I will tie you down to an anchor if I must. We're taking that fucking thing out while we have the opportunity.”

Jongdae surprisingly gives a weak little smile at that, almost like he’s relieved to hear Baekhyun say that, and it hurts Baekhyun as much as it heals him, to finally see a genuine smile on Jongdae’s face again after all this time.

“Baekhyun…” Jongdae starts, his voice filled with more things than Baekhyun can count. “...There’s something you need to know, about Eclipse. It’s not just the RTF taking over, it’s more than that--”

Baekhyun puts a hand over Jongdae’s mouth, silencing him. “Can it wait?” he asks, a little desperately. “Have you not given me enough information to process as is?” They have all the time this world has to offer, after all, no pressure for Baekhyun to be reminded of his pressing mutant duties for quite some time, not until Jongin has recovered at least. Jongdae relents, and Baekhyun lets his hand fall.

“For now,” Baekhyun sighs, trying to make sense of the way his head hurts, his heart hurting even more, and the tingling sensation on his palm from touching Jongdae. He needs time to work these things out, time to process all the facts presented to him, time to find logic in a sea of devoid of any reason. “...I’m hungry.”

 

☀

 

“What the fuck,” Sehun says, as Jongdae and Baekhyun throw Jongin’s now-unconscious body down onto Baekhyun’s bed.

“Sehunnie!” Baekhyun shouts, and clings to Sehun immediately, squeezing as tightly as he can, which seems to have Sehun completely confused.

It’s only when Baekhyun bites his shoulder that Sehun says, “Oh my god, _Baekhyun_!?”

Baekhyun laughs as he pulls away. “I’m back.” Sehun quickly crushes him in another hug.

“Holy fuck you have _so_ much to tell me,” Sehun blurts.

“I know right!” Baekhyun exclaims. “Can you believe there’s a universe where Chanyeol is straight?”

“No, I really can’t.” Sehun snorts, then points to Jongin’s unconscious body. “Also, what the fuck.”

“Oh, I think leaping across dimensions kinda tired him out.” Baekhyun shrugs, casually, as if the mention of multiverse travelling via a mutant superpower is normal. Technically, now, it sorta is.

“How did he even get you here?” Jongdae asks, frowning. “Baekhyun --uh, the other one-- mentioned he couldn’t without an anchor.”

“But he did have an anchor,” Baekhyun says, and pulls Jongdae’s necklace out of his back pocket, the chain still unclasped. “This is connected to the one other me wears. It acted as an anchor across dimensions.”

Jongdae takes it gingerly. “Wow,” he says, holding the pendant up against the light. He laughs softly, almost to himself. “It almost sounds like quantum entanglement.”

Baekhyun’s nose wrinkles. “What?”

“Quantum entanglement,” Jongdae repeats. “Like, when two particles are connected no matter the distance, even across time and space.” They both look at the necklace. “It feels like Jongin used that somehow to get you here.”

“Woah,” Baekhyun says, because he’s not sure what else he can say. Jongdae is so cute when he infodumps about physics, which he’s missed _so_ much; he’d mentioned the quantum entanglement thing about the necklaces, but all Baekhyun can wonder is if he and Jongdae have that too, considering that their lives are intertwined in both universes.

His phone buzzes in his back pocket, distracting Baekhyun from his embarrassingly gay thoughts, and he pulls it out to reveal an entire wall of notifications, spanning back for days.

“Oh fuck,” Baekhyun says, realising he’s essentially been off the grid for over a week. “Mom is gonna _kill_ me.”

“Well look on the brightside,” Jongdae suggests, and gives Baekhyun a dumb, dopey grin that makes Baekhyun want to kiss him. Everything Jongdae does makes Baekhyun want to kiss him, but now that he’s had a two week long near-death experience in an alternate universe where he found out the possibility of kissing Jongdae might have been an opportunity he could have lost, the urge is like, ten times stronger, fuck. “At least you survived long enough that she gets to be the one to do it.”

“Wow, truly a silver lining,” Baekhyun deadpans. Jongdae just laughs and slings an arm around his shoulder; Baekhyun melts into the touch. It's good to be home.

“C’mon, let’s go find our other selves and make sure they’re not having a mutant battle on campus,” Jongdae suggests. Baekhyun snorts.

“More like mutant sex,” he jokes, and feels the way Jongdae tenses, even though the smile on his face remains. “Finding out that other Jongdae has been good all along is going to make for an intense make up make-out session, if other Baekhyun is anything like me.”

“So to get you to make out with me I need to turn evil and then good again?” Jongdae teases, and it makes Baekhyun flush red immediately, because it’s very very suggestive and it sounds like Jongdae is flirting with him, and not in the annoying fuckboy bro way he usually does.

“I--" Baekhyun stammers. "I meant-- if-- if the love of _my_ life--”

“Oh my god you’ve been back for less than an hour and you’re already disgusting me,” Sehun comments, face twisted, from his desk. “Go find your mutant counterparts, idiots. I’ll watch over their ride home.” He gestures lazily to Jongin on the bed, and Baekhyun looks to Jongdae, who shrugs, before they leave the dorm room.

Their other selves aren’t where they left them.

“Okay, what the fuck. Where did other me go?” Baekhyun points at the grass. “I put him _right_ here.”

“Yeah, well, he can turn invisible,” Jongdae offers, and Baekhyun squeaks in realisation.

“Fuck!” He exclaims. “Why is he so much cooler than me?!?!”

“Because you’re an idiot nerd who reads too many comics and likes League of Legends more than what’s healthy,” Jongdae consoles, then grins at Baekhyun. “Luckily, that’s a whole lot cooler in my book.”

Baekhyun just turns red again, pointedly hiding his face from Jongdae, who coos in response.

“Are you flustered by the Great Power of Friendship?” he asks, sing-song.

“Maybe,” Baekhyun mumbles, shoving Jongdae away from him petulantly. “Can’t believe you have to nerve to call me a nerd when you’re practically quoting Naruto.”

“You’re acting like it’s weird to quote the bible itself,” Jongdae jokes, so Baekhyun shoves him again.

“Don’t ever talk to me again,” Baekhyun sticks up his nose, and Jongdae just cackles. No sound in the world has ever been as comforting; it’s really good to be home. “Any idea where other me might be?”

Jongdae hums in thought as he relaxes. “Well, there is one place.”

His idea of the one place turns out to be the vending machine all the way back at the dorms, where, lo and behold, Baekhyun and Jongdae find their counterparts, with Baekhyun’s other self awkwardly painstakingly explaining how ‘snack dispensing’ works in this world. He puts in a handful of coins, presses in the code for a chocolate bar, and gives it to Other Jongdae, whose face lights up as soon as he eats it. Baekhyun notes the small, fond smile on his other self’s face at Jongdae’s look of pure joy, and thinks, _oh my god, I’m so fucking gay_............  _in every universe._

Baekhyun’s disgust at his other self’s blatant, unabashed never ending love for Jongdae must show on his face, because Baekhyun’s Jongdae bumps their shoulders together and says, “What?”

“Nothing,” Baekhyun quickly calms his expression. Fuck, is _his_ love for _his_ Jongdae that obvious too? This is definitely not a situation where he ever wanted to find that out. Yikes.

“You’re here,” the other Baekhyun states as he notices them, leaning against the vending machine cooly, arms crossed over his chest. Wow, other Baekhyun is… kinda hot. In a rugged, emo, Sasuke sorta way. “Is Jongin alright?”

“Yeah, just resting,” Jongdae answers, giving two thumbs up. “Sehunnie is watching over him. Hey, where did you get money from though?” he asks curiously, and other Baekhyun shrugs shortly.

“I didn’t,” he replies. “I used an illusion to make it look like I used money while I reached into the dispensing compartment to steal it.” He looks entirely unapologetic. “Last time I didn’t use an illusion I got unwanted attention.”

“Wow, I can’t even be mad at you for making me a criminal, I’m just impressed,” Baekhyun blurts. “If I had cool powers I’d constantly be using them as a loophole in the broke college lifestyle too.”

At that, other Baekhyun finally looks at his much lamer counterpart, and narrows his eyes at him, slowly raking his gaze over his body. It makes Baekhyun a little uncomfortable, and he wraps his arms around his middle, an instinctual defense mechanism.

“So this is the other me…” other Baekhyun mumbles, stepping closer to Baekhyun, who just blinks as his mirror self squishes into his personal space, still weirdly checking him out.

“Um, no, _you’re_ the other me,” Baekhyun replies nervously, because his mouth always disconnects from his brain when he panics, pointing pathetically.

“Clearly you are the other me,” Other Baekhyun retorts stubbornly.

“This is ridiculous, we need better names to refer to ourselves,” Jongdae suggests, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing.

“Fine,” Baekhyun says petulantly. “Then I’ll be Regular Baekhyun, you can be Emo Baekhyun, you’re Regular Jongdae and that’s Asshole Jongdae.”

He points to Asshole Jongdae, who has simply been standing a few awkward steps away from them, biting into a Reese’s peanut butter cup with small nibbles.

“I am not ‘emotional’,” Emo Baekhyun argues.

“Yeah you kinda are,” Jongdae says.

“They’re right,” Asshole Jongdae also agrees, and Emo Baekhyun looks at him, affronted.

“Betraying me even here?” Emo Baekhyun asks snidely, and Asshole Jongdae just looks down guiltily, lowering his peanut butter cups in shame.

“Hey, don’t be an ass,” Baekhyun chides, shoving Emo Baekhyun pointedly. “Maybe _you_ can be Asshole Baekhyun and _he_ can be Emo Jongdae.”

“My head hurts,” Jongdae sighs, rubbing his temple.

“That makes two of us,” Asshole/Emo Jongdae agrees, giving a hesitant smile. Jongdae just gives him a strange indecipherable look, a slight downward curl to his lips, like he doesn’t quite know what to do with him. It seems like Jongdae and Emo Baekhyun may have that in common.

A group of boys walk past the vending machine, all staring at the pairs of duplicates with wide eyes --particularly Asshole Jongdae and Baekhyun's weird clothes-- and Baekhyun suddenly becomes very aware that he really has no way of explaining this, if anyone asks, unless he and Jongdae start pretending they have twins and that they love to cosplay.

Which could be sort of fun, since Baekhyun loves messing with people, but he’s not exactly in the mood right now. He hasn’t eaten in days, hasn’t slept properly even longer, and truth be told the only thing keeping him together right now is Jongdae’s arm pressed against his and the adrenaline from before the leap.

“Maybe we should argue about names somewhere a little more private?” Baekhyun suggests nervously, as another group of people walk past, staring openly. “And work out what to do until Jongin is ready to leap you back?”

Emo Baekhyun winces at that, a conflicted look on his face, and Baekhyun thinks, _oh_. He probably doesn’t want to go back, considering he left to begin with --whether he’s aware of the fact or not-- and after witnessing their world… Baekhyun can’t blame him.

“There is something we must do here first,” Emo Baekhyun says, gesturing for Asshole Jongdae to step forward, who does so hesitantly, so blatantly unsure of his place here. It makes Baekhyun’s chest ache in sympathy, but the truth is that he knows nothing of the other world’s Jongdae, merely seeks to comfort only because it’s what he would do for _his_ Jongdae. Slowly, Asshole Jongdae pulls down the collar of his shirt, revealing a red light that blinks beneath his skin.

“What the fuck is that?” Baekhyun blurts, horrified by the way pale skin is stretched taut around the blinking lump.

“A tracking device,” Asshole Jongdae explains. “It has to be taken out here.”

“And how do you expect us to do that?” Jongdae asks incredulously. “Just get out a pair of scissors!?!?”

“Obviously not.” Emo Baekhyun scoffs. “One wrong movement could set the explosive attached off. We need a surgeon’s hands.”

“And where are we going to find one of those?” Jongdae counters. “I don’t think a hospital will just happily take it out no questions asked!!!”

“Then...” Baekhyun replies slowly, having stayed quiet in thought. “...We won’t go to a hospital. We’ll go somewhere else.”

Emo Baekhyun arches an eyebrow at him. “Some place in mind?”

Baekhyun smiles sheepishly. “You could say that.”

The drive to the shelter is spent in awkward silence, mostly because Emo Baekhyun apparently can’t decide if he hates Asshole Jongdae or wants to just makeout with him already, so he gets into the passenger seat of Jongdae’s shitty beat up car before Baekhyun can even walk to the door. Jongdae just gives him a helpless shrug as he opens the driver’s side.

Which is great, because it means Baekhyun is stuck in the too-small backseat with Asshole Jongdae, who is evidently torn between staring outside the car window in wonder at this other world, and glaring at Regular Jongdae, who chats with Emo Baekhyun lightly about something to do with Jongin or something, Baekhyun isn’t listening, too aware of the taut atmosphere to really focus, worried it might snap at any moment.

Asshole Jongdae’s jealousy is palpable, but Baekhyun can’t really blame him for it, either. God only knows how much time Emo Baekhyun and Jongdae have spent together, obviously getting along and having the time of their lives while Baekhyun and Asshole Jongdae suffered --Asshole Jongdae even more so than Baekhyun. For Asshole Jongdae, who is undoubtedly pained by Emo Baekhyun’s mistrust of him, and pained even further by the time they have lost, it must hurt a lot to see. Even Baekhyun is trying to not be jealous of his other self for getting along with his Jongdae so much, as if Jongdae might like him more, but it helps that he’s had a lot of practice over the years to quash down unwanted thoughts.

Asshole Jongdae is in a love triangle with his fucking multiverse counterpart.

But wait-- does that mean Baekhyun is in a love triangle with his fucking multiverse counterpart, too?

This is so fucking stupid, and Baekhyun’s head hurts. More than that though, he really needs a better way to refer to his other self beyond ‘Emo Baekhyun’.

Jongdae parks along the curb, and he and Emo Baekhyun head up the path towards the clinic, while Baekhyun lingers behind a few steps and tugs Asshole Jongdae back with him.

“You know he still loves you, right?” Baekhyun asks him, watching the way Jongdae’s face immediately twists in conflict.

“No, he doesn’t,” Jongdae replies, tearing his wrist from Baekhyun’s grip with a solemn expression. “And he has all the right not to. I’ve hurt him more than anyone in both worlds.” His smile is bitter, twisted. Baekhyun doesn’t really understand this Jongdae, barely knows him at all, but he’s still Jongdae, which means he’s still a self-sacrificing idiot who beats himself up too much, because every problem in the world is apparently his to burden.

“Then stop pitying yourself and start becoming somebody he could love again,” Baekhyun advises, just because it kills him to see this Jongdae deprive himself of happiness anymore than he already has. Baekhyun has lived in their world, the darkness and misery, the sorrow that blankets it like dirty snow, and he knows that good things… well, they don’t come often. Jongdae and Baekhyun should hold onto what they have, no matter how damaged it’s become. Baekhyun sighs. “Look, I’m not saying I agree with what you’ve done either, but…. As one Baekhyun to another Jongdae…” he bites his lip. “Lowkey I’m like, ninety-nine-point-nine percent sure he still loves you. Prove to him that you deserve it. Help him trust you again.”

Jongdae looks pensive at that, watching his other self and Emo Baekhyun interact a few steps ahead, where Regular Jongdae is cackling about something Baekhyun’s counterpart must have said. It’s fucking weird to see, like there’s an imposter in Baekhyun’s place, and Baekhyun had worried about it briefly, in the other world, that Jongdae might like Emo Baekhyun more than he likes him, but Baekhyun knows they were born into their respective worlds for a reason. Emo Baekhyun is meant to be with Asshole Jongdae, the same way Baekhyun is meant to be with his Jongdae.

“You’re right,” Jongdae replies, raising his jaw slightly in determination, the muscles in his face flexing as he does so. “You often are in both worlds, I guess.”

Baekhyun grins dumbly, which makes Jongdae give a small smile, a sad little thing, on his weary face, but a smile all the same.

Jongdae bites his cheek then, watching Baekhyun, and adds amusedly, “And from one Jongdae to another Baekhyun…” his gaze travels to their counterpart pair several steps ahead. “You don’t need to hold back with him, you know. It’s obvious he cares for you --Well, if he’s truly me, he more than cares for you.”

It makes Baekhyun flush. “I know,” he replies pathetically, because he does, really --now, at least. But things are complicated, and he doesn’t know how to deal with them. Seeing that in another universe he and Jongdae were kind of star-crossed lovers only made Baekhyun want to confront Jongdae about his feelings even more, on top of the whole, Baekhyun-nearly-died-so-now-he-has-no-fears-left thing. Adjacent to that is the fact that Asshole Jongdae looks at Emo Baekhyun the way Jongdae looks at Baekhyun sometimes, when both Jongdaes think their respective Baekhyun isn’t looking, and it’s obvious from that alone that Baekhyun and his Jongdae have a _lot_ to talk about.

But for now, they’re preoccupied getting Jongdae’s deadly mutant pet ID tag out of his skin, as Baekhyun pushes past Emo Baekhyun and Regular Jongdae to enter the the shelter, bell tingling overhead as he does so.

“Uh, actually,” Baekhyun stops in the entryway, closing the door again and turning to the other three. “Maybe uh. Asshole Jongdae and I should be the only ones to go in?”

Emo Baekhyun’s expression is forged from steel. “No.”

“Well, you’re not leaving much room for argument there,” Baekhyun remarks as he pushes open the door and walks through, allowing the three to follow behind him. “Stubborn asshole,” he mutters disgruntedly.

“You have that in common,” both Jongdaes say in unison before looking at each other, bewildered.

Both Baekhyun and his counterpart snicker at that, with the latter’s being kind of quiet and breathy, and then _they_ make perplexed eye contact. Fucking weird.

“Baekhyun?” Minseok asks from the back room, walking into the lobby. “Is that y--”

He stops.

Pauses.

Rubs at his eyes beneath his glasses. Blinks at them. Takes in the fact that there are two Baekhyuns. Rubs his eyes again.

“Is this a nightmare?” Minseok asks dazedly.

“ _Minseok_?” Asshole Jongdae asks, stepping back in panic and oh, right, he’s evil in the other world. How could Baekhyun forget?

“It's alright,” Emo Baekhyun assures before Baekhyun has even opened his mouth the whole way. He places a hand on Jongdae’s shoulder. “He's not a threat in this universe.”

Asshole Jongdae --who really isn’t an asshole, but Baekhyun is too attached to the hilarious epithet-- relaxes, and Baekhyun pointedly thinks, _gay_.

“Baekhyun… what is going on?” Minseok asks dazedly, gaze flicking between the mirror images back and forth repeatedly. “Why do you and Jongdae have twins?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” Baekhyun sighs. “But I’ll tell you if you promise to perform some illegal surgery?”

It is _not_ easy to convince Minseok to believe in alternate dimensions, making Baekhyun glad he woke up in the place that's much more accepting of multiverse travel, but apparently other Baekhyun making light stretch like glowing gum between his fingertips and Jongdae’s skin dancing with lightning bolts is enough for him to believe anything. It takes a lot of time and a lot of stupid back and forth between Baekhyun and his Jongdae before Minseok makes sense of it all, and at the very end of it, once everything is finally on the table, all he says is, “So that’s why you missed work. Huh.”

“That’s all you have to say?” Baekhyun replies, bewildered. Minseok shrugs.

“I just hope you know I’m not giving you sick leave.”

“You don’t even pay me!”

“Semantics,” Minseok waves his hands, rubbing at his eyes beneath his glasses. He looks tired, and Baekhyun feels kinda bad for making him run the shelter by himself all this time. On the other hand, Baekhyun _was_ trapped in an alternate dimension, so. “I’m not qualified to perform human surgery, you realise. And I don’t have any anaesthesia--”

“I don’t need any,” Asshole Jongdae assures, desperation bleeding into his composure. “Just get it out of me. Please.”

Minseok looks conflicted, but the dire urgency on Jongdae’s face sways him, relenting. “Alright.”

It’s fucking gross to watch, even more than it had been when Minseok last operated on a stray dog that had been hit by a car and Baekhyun had had to help. At least that dog had been put under, Asshole Jongdae just fucking grits his teeth and bears Minseok’s scalpel shallowly cutting into his skin, digging his gloved fingertips beneath the surface to carefully pull it out. There’s blood everywhere.

“Oh I’m gonna puke,” Baekhyun says, queasy, and turns around into the sink to dry heave. Jongdae pats his back consolingly.

“You know, I’m kinda badass,” Jongdae comments absentmindedly, watching the way his other self just handles the pain without so much as flinching, grip white-knuckled on the edge of the metal surgery table. Emo Baekhyun, beside him, takes one of his hands, and interlaces their fingers, Asshole Jongdae relaxing even further as Minseok slowly pulls the tracking device out of his skin. It must be excruciating, his grip turning Baekhyun’s hand purple.

“Yeah we all are,” Baekhyun mumbles, remembering how everyone from the other world was kind of ten times cooler than their counterparts here.

Jongdae pats Baekhyun’s shoulder patronisingly. “Except for you, barfy.”

“Kiss it better?” Baekhyun pouts, jutting out his bottom lip.

“Not until you’ve bleached your mouth according to hospital standards.” Jongdae snickers, pushing Baekhyun’s chin away from him. “Gross.”

Baekhyun just pouts harder, although his stomach flutters all over again at Jongdae’s sudden apparent willingness to kiss him.

Ugh.

There’s the sound of metal cluttering as Minseok tosses the tracking device into a steel plate, soaked in blood, and Baekhyun turns around to dry heave again. Jongdae keeps patting his back.

Baekhyun leaves his position over the sink only once Minseok says, “Done.” And turns around to see Asshole Jongdae’s collarbone no longer seeped in blood, cleaned and bandaged. His scarred chest is heaving with each deep breath as his hand remains in Emo Baekhyun’s, but he looks relieved for it to be over. Minseok holds up the steel tray with the small blood-covered device in it, which Emo Baekhyun takes happily, placing it down just beside Jongdae on the operating bench and raising a glowing fist to smash it.

“Wait,” Asshole Jongdae says quickly, wrapping his free hand around Baekhyun’s raised one. “Keep it intact. It’s an entry chip to get into the Vault.”

Emo Baekhyun appears reluctant, but his hand falls all the same, not leaving Jongdae’s. Now both of their hands are holding the other's as they look into each other’s eyes, unspoken words swimming between them.

“Jesus Christ we’re _disgusting_ ,” Jongdae mumbles beside Baekhyun.

Baekhyun is inclined to agree. “I know, right?”

Minseok ends up washing the device in antiseptic, then putting it in a small ziplock bag and giving it to Asshole Jongdae, who promptly hands it to Emo Baekhyun, while Baekhyun thanks him profusely.

“You owe me _so_ many answers when I see your ass back here on Monday,” is all Minseok tells him, before shooing them all back outside and leaving him alone to process what the fuck just happened. This time Emo Baekhyun gets in the backseat, his hand still in Asshole Jongdae’s, and Baekhyun and Jongdae make amused eye contact over the console, both glancing into the rearview mirror. As they’re walking back to Baekhyun’s dorm, Jongdae pulls him aside.

“Sleep with me tonight,” he says, making Baekhyun turn red on cue before he seems to remember his words. “I mean I-- uh. We can’t all sleep in the one room. You might as well stay with me while our other selves rest up on your bed.”

Baekhyun whines petulantly. “But I just got home and _I_ want to sleep in my bed!!!”

Jongdae rolls his eyes at Baekhyun’s melodrama. “Like you don’t sleep in my bed enough for it to feel the same, c’mon.”

Baekhyun pouts, but lets Jongdae drag him away while he uses his other hand to text Sehun for an update on Jongin. ( _woke up for 2 seconds and ate 3 cans of pringles before going back  2 sleep d( >_< )) _ Deciding that maybe other Baekhyun and Jongdae need the space. While Jongdae isn’t looking, Baekhyun texts Sehun too, a quick _, u might wanna clear out for the night LOL_ before pocketing his phone and simply following Jongdae, staring at his face in the darkness, the way the street lights across campus cover his skin in a mix of warm yellow light and shadows, highlight every single mole, the five o’clock shadow under his jaw, his crooked bottom teeth. God Baekhyun has missed him so much.

“What?” Jongdae asks, having caught Baekhyun staring. Baekhyun just smiles.

“Nothing.”

 

☾

 

When Baekhyun wakes up, he doesn’t wake up alone.

Which is a bizarre feeling, but not one he minds, finding a smile slipping on his face at Jongdae’s face squished against his chest, wearing the other Baekhyun’s clothes and breathing softly as Baekhyun carefully brushes a strand of hair off his forehead. The single bed really isn’t large enough for two people, but, like always, Baekhyun and Jongdae had fallen together naturally, with Baekhyun refusing to let Jongdae sleep on the floor while injured (even if it’s barely an injury) and Jongdae being too stubborn to let Baekhyun sleep on the floor in his place.

Unhelped by Jongin passed out on Sehun’s bed, snoring.

“Say cheese,” Sehun says from above them before Baekhyun even registers he’s there, and Jongdae’s face twitches as he’s awakened by the obnoxious shutter noise coming from Sehun’s phone. “Man, other you is gonna eat this up. See ya!”

And then he disappears from the room with his book bag in tow before Baekhyun can punish him, Jongdae grunting in Baekhyun’s arms.

“So he’s a brat in both universes?” Jongdae mumbles, breath ghosting across Baekhyun’s collarbones and making him shiver.

“Guess so,” Baekhyun replies fondly, tucking another strand of hair behind Jongdae’s ear. Jongdae looks at him, at that, with an unreadable gaze, biting his cheek. Baekhyun gets up suddenly, clearing his throat.

Muscle memory. What a finicky thing.

“We should get something to eat,” Baekhyun suggests. “Something proper.” Neither of them have eaten a full meal since arriving, beyond the convenience of junk food. Jongdae nods quietly in agreement. The silence is excruciating, and Baekhyun winces, unsure of what else he can say. Ironically, he and Jongdae had had more stimulating conversation even when Jongdae was playing his asshole part. It’s just so strenuous; most of Baekhyun wants to punish Jongdae for making him suffer all this time, by refusing to give him the acknowledgement he clearly craves, but… another part of him just wants to give in and succumb, to forgive Jongdae and move past this, to linger not in the past or the present but begin building a new future. Baekhyun is so fucking tired of being split in two.

The worst part is that he knows punishing Jongdae won’t fix anything, it won’t erase the years they’ve spent apart, it won’t abolish Baekhyun’s love for him, it won’t heal his heart or do anything to help this newfound partnership in an alternate universe. All punishing Jongdae does is give Baekhyun petty satisfaction that’s shallow and superficial and helps nothing, so Baekhyun exhales slowly, and tries to let it all go.

Jongdae looks so vulnerable, curled up on the other Baekhyun’s bed like that, not meeting Baekhyun’s eyes. Baekhyun exhales slowly in frustration, and kicks the bed leg Jongin is sleeping on, which hardly bothers him, Jongdae watching him impassively. Slowly, Baekhyun lets himself calm down, and washes away everything inside him that’s torn up and bruised.

“Have you…” Baekhyun starts slowly as he turns around casually, pretending as if he didn't just throw a minor tantrum. “...Ever heard of ‘unlimited fries’?”

Jongdae gives him a quizzical look. “No,” he answers, equally as cautious. “What are they?”

Baekhyun smiles.

He manages to convince other Jongdae into driving them to the diner, even though regular Baekhyun tries to insist that it’s only for post-game celebrations, Jongdae just pats his shoulder and tells him they can make an exception for once, after seeing the look on Baekhyun’s face.

It’s strange, their dynamic, the Baekhyun and Jongdae of this world, and it’s even stranger to witness first-hand. They’re so teasing with each other, so playful and light, but the concern for one another runs very, very deep, obvious even from the surface level. It reminds Baekhyun of what his relationship once was, with Jongdae, which makes it painful to see, too. This world’s Baekhyun is nothing like him, childish and rambling, a bit of a fool, if Baekhyun had to say, and yet he’s also so eerily similar it’s uncomfortable. Watching him look at his Jongdae with hearts in his eyes is embarrassing to witness, as well as oddly… reminiscent, even though Baekhyun would never be so blatant and disgusting with his feelings. If there’s one thing the Baekhyuns don’t have in common, it’s self-control, because even if Baekhyun is a soldier, fighting since the day he was born, human, non-mutant, regular Baekhyun, has far more control, to love his Jongdae that much and not do anything about it.

Even Baekhyun couldn’t technically keep his hands off of him --yikes.

It would be almost admirable, if it didn’t stem from cowardice; another aspect Baekhyun doesn’t share with his counterpart. Then again, he’s still in this world, isn’t he? Still running away from confronting his complicated feelings for Jongdae, his duty to his universe, his past and his present; maybe they’re both cowards after all, just in different ways.

Baekhyun glances over at Jongdae, who has taken it upon himself to dip a fry into the separate sauce combinations to work out which tastes best, wrinkling his nose, and feels his heart surge with affection, feeling the way it’s promptly quashed down as soon as it had arisen, too. He is so tired of running away.

“...But until Jongin wakes up, there’s really nothing we can do,” other Baekhyun continues explaining, taking the top of his burger bun off and drizzling it in a copious amount of sauce that makes Baekhyun grimace. Yet another difference between them --they both seemingly love food, but other Baekhyun goes about it in a disgusting manner.

“I guess so,” Jongdae agrees, poking at his pickle with a fork, relatively unbothered by the amount of stares the twin sets are receiving from the rest of the diner. “What do you think?”

Baekhyun, having been too busy watching his Jongdae devour the basket of fries adjacent to his burger, doesn’t even realise the question had been directed at him, noting the way a smudge of bbq sauce is stuck at the corner of Jongdae’s lip and wiping it off with a thumb, then licking it off his own. “Hm?”

The other Baekhyun and Jongdae stare at him with wide eyes.

“...What?” he asks, when the silence persists.

“Nothing!” They both squeak, exchanging nervous eye contact before burying themselves in their food. Baekhyun looks to his Jongdae beside him.

“Do you think we have ever looked that stupid?” he asks him with a sharp smile, Jongdae giving him a panicked look like he doesn’t know what to do with the fact that Baekhyun is suddenly talking to him, and teasingly at that.

“Um.” He clears his throat. “Well there was that one time, when Junmyeon caught us behind the hub, and you tripped over the pants around your ankles--”

The memory is as painful to remember as it is amusing, and Baekhyun laughs softly despite himself, sick of being at war internally and breaking everything between him and Jongdae in the process. The pain still aches as Jongdae presses into the bruise of the memory, but he ignores it.

“Oh my god,” other Baekhyun cuts Jongdae off. “Are you really going to talk about your sex life? Right in front of my salad?”

Jongdae arches an eyebrow at him, looking down at his plate. “I thought these were called burgers.”

Other Baekhyun’s mouth opens, closes, a look of reluctance on his face. “You know what? I’m not going to explain memes to you. It’s just not worth it.”

Baekhyun and Jongdae exchange a knowing smile, nudging each other’s knees beneath the table. The Jongdae of this world just looks red-faced and stubbornly silent, lips pressed into a line.

Jongdae stops allowing the server to give him more fries after the fourth serving, hunger sated. He licks his lips and looks to the the group. “Is there more food here?”

“Yes,” Baekhyun replies. “But I can show you even better places.”

It becomes a bit of an accidental expedition, after that, as Baekhyun asks the Jongdae of this world to drive them around in his bizarre non-hovering car to show them all the best food spots. They get frozen yoghurt and seven-eleven snacks, cold drinks called Slurpees (which make Baekhyun and Jongdae’s heads hurt, the Baekhyun and Jongdae of this world laughing at them) chocolate dumplings and churros. It’s a never ending string of food that Baekhyun and Jongdae just can’t stop eating, consistently remarking to each other about how delicious it is, how strange, how different to the things back home. How much their childhood selves would have killed to eat like this.

“You should try this, too,” Baekhyun insists, holding up his plastic cup of ice cream. He had ordered strawberry, much to the other Baekhyun’s pride, and Jongdae had decided on chocolate-mint, which his counterpart also seemed to be proud of. The Baekhyun and Jongdae of this world are now arguing loudly about the validity of ice cream flavours so much they’re not even paying attention to the way Jongdae’s mouth opens obediently as Baekhyun feeds him the end of his tiny plastic spoon.

“Does anything in this world taste bad?” Jongdae remarks happily after swallowing, his eyes curved and sparkling. He looks alive again. Baekhyun wonders if the light of this world has begun to heal him, too.

“I really don’t think so,” Baekhyun replies, and they both laugh softly. It’s… strange.

“Try mine too,” Jongdae demands, so Baekhyun allows himself to be fed, and wrinkles his nose at the taste.

“Terrible,” he mumbles.

“See!” Other Baekhyun exclaims loudly. “Choc-mint is an abomination! Two against one!”

“It doesn’t count if you’re siding with yourself, multiverse or not!” The other Jongdae retorts. “You’re invalid!”

Baekhyun’s other self gasps, affronted, something Baekhyun thinks may be exaggerated for comedic effect. “How dare you, Jongdae. I am nothing _but_ valid!”

The regular duo continue bickering, as Baekhyun and Jongdae make knowing eye contact on cue.

“Idiots,” Jongdae mutters beneath his breath. Baekhyun hums in agreement.

After the ice cream, as they’re walking back to the car, Baekhyun and Jongdae’s endless stomachs finally beginning to surrender, Jongdae pauses, suddenly, looking into the distance.

“What’s that sound?” he asks the other Baekhyun, and Baekhyun frowns, noticing it too.

“Um,” other Baekhyun replies. “The ocean?” He exchanges a look with his Jongdae. “You guys don’t have _the ocean?_ ”

“Of course we have the ocean.” Baekhyun huffs petulantly. He knows this world is superior, but he gets petulant about it when his other self tries to insist upon the fact. “But it doesn’t make _sound_.”

Jongdae doesn’t seem to be listening, following the noise, and Baekhyun, as always, stumbles after him, worried that he may get hit by a car, or something. When they reach the edge of the street, Baekhyun inhales sharply at the sight that’s caused Jongdae to pause, watching the way blue water sprawls out for miles, mirroring the sky.

“This world is so beautiful,” Jongdae says quietly, as Baekhyun stands beside him, gazing out towards the horizon line, where water meets sky like the joining of two separate worlds, the sun sinking across it, too, day meeting night. 

(In their world, the oceans are as black as the sky, the water acidic and still; hesitantly, Baekhyun reaches for Jongdae’s hand.)

“We could stay here,” Baekhyun offers. “If you’d like.” Jongdae turns to him sharply, eyes wide and searching his face. “Build a new life,” Baekhyun continues, remembering the other Jongdae’s promise, swallowing, and squeezes Jongdae’s hand tighter. “Start again.”

Jongdae looks conflicted, considering it, but he shakes his head with a smile. “And live in the identity of our other selves? It’s not fair to them, and it’s not fair to all the people we left behind.” He cranes his neck to the sky, a look of resignation across his beautiful features. “You deserve a world with this much light, Baekhyun. But I must live with my shadows.”

He walks forward into the sand then, hand slipping out of Baekhyun’s grasp, but he stubbornly holds on, following Jongdae.

“Then we will return,” Baekhyun states adamantly. “And we will face our destiny. Together.”

Jongdae stops then, turning on the sand and staring at Baekhyun. “I don’t deserve your loyalty.”

“It’s not about what you deserve,” Baekhyun argues, squeezing his hand between them. “I love you, Jongdae. And I can try to fight it, I can try to stop, I can try to deny it--” he cuts off, a lump in his throat, swallowing. “--but it doesn’t change anything. So stop going where I can’t follow.”

Slowly, Jongdae kicks his shoes off, taking Baekhyun’s other hand into his. “Okay,” he says easily, and Baekhyun knows now, that Jongdae won’t leave him, that Jongdae won’t hurt him, that Jongdae still loves him after everything. What they have between them is bruised and bleeding, but it’s _theirs_ , not some prerequisite of the multiverse, not a wound or a burden or even a blessing, just theirs.

Which is why Baekhyun follows Jongdae out into the water, both of them laughing softly at the way it curls around their ankles.

“It’s so cold...” Jongdae comments quietly, yet his palm in Baekhyun’s is so warm. He meets Baekhyun’s eyes. “We’ll destroy the RTF together, Baekhyun. I hope you know that. I’m tired of fighting alone.”

The sun behind him is blinding. “I do,” Baekhyun agrees, because really… he does.

“A thousand sorrys cannot make up for how I’ve hurt you,” Jongdae adds quietly, looking down in shame. “But I'll spend the rest of my life fighting to earn your trust if that’s what it takes.”

“You don’t need to earn my trust, Jongdae,” Baekhyun replies fondly, smiling genuinely. “It’s always been yours.” Always since the start, his trust, his love, his body, his heart; all of him belongs to Jongdae, and all of Jongdae belongs to Baekhyun, too.

Perhaps it’s inevitable, then, that beneath the sun Jongdae pulls Baekhyun towards him, or maybe Baekhyun pulls Jongdae towards him --either way, they fall together, their lips meeting as they have a thousand times before in a past that feels like another life, and all the other lives that had come before it, across every universe and throughout all of time. Kissing Jongdae feels just as natural as loving him does, as Baekhyun’s hand wraps around the back of his neck to pull him in closer, and Jongdae accommodates, and _this_ , Baekhyun thinks, is what it’s like to finally come home.

 

☀

 

“Wow,” Baekhyun blurts with wide eyes as he watches his mutant self (he’d scrapped the emo thing) make out with the other Jongdae in the water a short distance ahead. “...I’m fucking smooth?”

“Yep,” Jongdae agrees lamely, eyes stuck on the same scene Baekhyun is. He couldn’t hear what they’d been saying, but Baekhyun had sort of just tugged Jongdae towards him, and they’d fallen together naturally into a _really_ passionate looking kiss. “Been waiting for that to happen, T-B-H.”

Baekhyun scoffs. “Yeah you and the rest of the world,” he bumps their hips together, which makes Jongdae yelp in offense. “I just can’t believe it took them so long.”

“I know, right?” Jongdae remarks, shaking his head. “I guess they did have the whole traitor thing going on but... honestly. They’re so in love, who cares if it’s dysfunctional as shit?”

“Exactly!!!” Baekhyun agrees. “Their world is miserable as fuck, they don’t need to deprive each other of happiness anymore than they already have.”

“Right?”

“And they clearly care for each other more than anyone.”

Jongdae snorts. “Obviously.”

“And they’re just… _so_ gross and in love.” Baekhyun continues.

Jongdae nods in agreement. “They’re disgusting.”

“And we’re absolute hypocrites for judging them, aren’t we?” Baekhyun looks at Jongdae expectantly, who sighs.

“...Yep.”

Baekhyun slumps, turning to Jongdae, and meets his timid smile with a mirrored expression.

“Soooooo,” Baekhyun drawls out, rocking on his heels. “Us being in love and dumb is a constant in all universes, huh?”

Jongdae’s smile widens. “Guess so.”

For all the years Baekhyun has spent hopelessly mooning over his best friend, he’d always imagined this moment to be a lot more dramatic, more like the other Baekhyun and Jongdae --who are still making out in the water, eugh-- a slow build-up filled with tension, less… this.

Then again, after living in a post-apocalyptic world filled with super mutants, being in love is a lot less daunting.

But still, he’s Baekhyun, so his stomach writhes with nerves. He wrings his wrists. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?” he asks Jongdae.

Jongdae raises his eyebrows. “You didn’t say anything either.”

“Yeah but--” Baekhyun’s face scrunches. “--you never even said you weren’t straight.”

Jongdae winces. “It’s a recent discovery.”

“How recent?” Baekhyun narrows his eyes.

Jongdae just sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “Since you came back to school, maybe? I don’t know. I guess I’ve liked you for a long time, I just didn’t realise that’s what it was.” He swallows. “I mean I’d never even? Considered? Liking boys? Because I figured I already knew I liked girls so it was like… why explore past that, you know?” He turns red. “But then you came back to uni and you were more constant and you were just-- you were just in such a better place all on your own, it was so admirable, I kind of…”

“Awww,” Baekhyun teases, mostly because he has no self-preservation, exists to torment his best friend, and needs to distract from his own embarrassment. “You fell for me~”

Jongdae rolls his eyes, but there’s no bite to his movements. “I guess so,” he agrees noncommittally, still rubbing the back of his neck. He sighs, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “And I would’ve said something sooner but you were always so stretched thin everywhere all the time, and I guess I knew you depended me on a lot to keep you centred. I couldn’t…” he trails off, eyebrows furrowed together in thought. “I couldn’t tell if my feelings were a side-effect of our weird codependence, or maybe if your feelings were just a side-effect of that too?” He gulps. “Like I thought if I just kept… waiting it out, eventually you’d realise you only liked me as a friend, and you were just projecting onto me because I stuck by you when everything went to shit and--”

“Oh my god,” Baekhyun cuts in, refusing to hear anymore of Jongdae’s stupid self-flagellating theories. He’s not wrong, not exactly, in thinking that Jongdae staying by Baekhyun’s side as he dropped out of school and had a pretty rough depressive period where self-loathing was his only other companion, contributed to Baekhyun falling in love with him, but there is one detail he’s missing. “Jongdae, dude. I’ve been in love with you since high school.”

Jongdae looks at Baekhyun like he’s grown a second head. Good thing Baekhyun’s used to that, by now. “ _What_?”

Baekhyun laughs in disbelief, because holy shit, Jongdae really held his feelings back all this time because he thought Baekhyun would inevitably get over him, when Baekhyun has been fucking in love with the idiot since he was sixteen.

“Remember how I forgot my lunch in high school all the time?” Jongdae nods dumbly. “One day, you gave me your sandwich, because you said you’d figured I’d forget and packed an extra… but you hadn’t actually packed an extra, you just gave me yours.” Baekhyun shrugs casually. “I guess that’s kind of… when I realised I was in love with you, I dunno.”

“Oh my god,” Jongdae’s face is bright red. “We’re fucking idiots.”

“We’re worse than our mutant selves,” Baekhyun agrees amusedly.

“I love you, Baekhyun,” Jongdae says clearly, and one would think that after the entire talk they’ve just had, Baekhyun would be prepared to hear the words, but he isn’t, going bright red and promptly hiding his face in his hands. “Wh-- don’t get embarrassed now!” Jongdae whines.

“I’m trying not to but this is _really_ gay,” Baekhyun complains, even as Jongdae gently pries his hands back, revealing Baekhyun’s red face.

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae says quietly, in his lower register and everything and oh god, he’s just trying to make this worse for Baekhyun, isn’t he? “ _We’re_ really gay.”

“It’s true but you shouldn’t say it,” Baekhyun whispers, and lets Jongdae tug him towards him, pressing their lips together softly, sweet and chaste, in a way Baekhyun has only ever dreamt about. His eyes flutter open, having never even realised they’d fallen shut to begin with; Jongdae’s face is so close.

“Again,” Baekhyun demands, and Jongdae obliges, this time more sure of himself, squeezing Baekhyun’s fingertips in his and pressing their lips together firmly, noses bumping slightly before Baekhyun tilts his head to readjust. They pull back for air at the same time. “ _Again_.”

And Jongdae, who can never deny Baekhyun, obeys, kissing him over and over and over, soft and slow and sticky. Baekhyun cups Jongdae’s cheeks and pulls him back in every time Jongdae tries to step back to breathe, because why need air when they have each other now, Jongdae’s hands at Baekhyun’s hips keeping him in place as their mouths meet over and over. It’s their first kiss, their second kiss, their third and fourth and fifth, and yet it also feels like how it has felt in every other universe, with every other Baekhyun and Jongdae, infinite worlds with infinite possibilities and infinite kisses. Jongdae groans into Baekhyun’s mouth, and Baekhyun takes the opportunity to lick inside, running his tongue over Jongdae’s adorably crooked bottom teeth and biting lightly on his lip.

They pull back when it begins to grow too overwhelming, and press their foreheads together, eyes meeting as they laugh, fingers intertwining between their chests. Out of the corner of his eye, Baekhyun spots the other Baekhyun and Jongdae watching them from the water, but he doesn’t pay them any mind.

“We… have to do that again sometime,” Jongdae breathes out, grinning like an idiot. God, Baekhyun is so in love with him.

“Yep,” Baekhyun agrees, and brings a hand up to the back of Jongdae’s neck to pull him in for another slow kiss, lips moving against each other languidly. Baekhyun sighs in contentment. “And to think we could’ve been doing that for years.”

Jongdae laughs softly against his mouth. “There are truly only two brain cells between us at best.”

“Two’s a stretch.” Baekhyun snorts, and Jongdae pulls him in for another kiss.

They keep pulling apart and pushing back in, like the ebb and flow of waves, but at some stage Baekhyun realises they’ve probably spent an inappropriate amount of time making out in public, and voices as such, mentioning they should probably get their other selves home…

…who are also still making out.

“What is this, a competition!?!?” Baekhyun complains.

Jongdae laughs. “Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure we win. You’re a better kisser than other Baekhyun anyway.”

Jongdae immediately makes a face like he’s said something he shouldn’t, and Baekhyun narrows his eyes. “You made out with him before you even kissed _me_??”

“Look it’s-- it’s complicated--” Jongdae tries, holding his hands up in surrender and stepping back as Baekhyun only steps forward.

“I can’t believe you cheated on me with a different version of me!” Baekhyun half-shouts, pulling at his hair.

“Cheated on you?” Jongdae snorts. “We weren’t even together. It was only a kiss.”

“Has Mr. Brightside taught you _nothing???_??”

Jongdae rolls his eyes, pulling Baekhyun’s hand into his. “We were confused and our feelings were messed up for our missing counterparts… I didn’t even know if you were coming back, I just had to make sure I kissed at least _one_ Baekhyun before you both disappeared on me. I figured any version of you was the best I was gonna get.”

The words shouldn’t be as sweet to hear as they are, but Baekhyun smiles dumbly before he can stop himself, finally understanding just how hard it must be for mutant Baekhyun to try and stop himself from forgiving his Jongdae. “Ehehehehehe,” Baekhyun giggles lamely, despite himself.

Jongdae sighs, long-suffering. “You’re an idiot.”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun agrees, pushing his face into Jongdae’s so that their noses are nearly brushing, and poking his chest with an index finger. “But I’m _your_ idiot.” Jongdae wrinkles his nose at that, obviously disgusted by the sappiness, Baekhyun just grins at him slyly. “When did you make out, anyway?”

“Uh.” Jongdae rubs the back of his neck. “After the game in the locker room. Why?”

“Because now you owe me a locker room makeout.” Baekhyun scoffs. “Duh.”

Jongdae’s eyes turn dark as his smile turns into a smirk, and Baekhyun finds it infuriating. “I can give you more than just a kiss in the locker room, if you’d like.”

It turns Baekhyun’s face warm, but he refuses to give Jongdae the satisfaction, pushing him back with a snort. “Slow down lover boy, you haven’t even taken me on a date yet and you want a homerun.”

“Your baseball metaphors are lost on my football-wired brain,” Jongdae jokes, lips curling upwards even further.

“A touchdown, then,” Baekhyun amends. Jongdae laughs.

“I’m taking you on a date right now, aren’t I?” He tries.

Baekhyun scoffs shortly, high-pitched in disbelief. “No, that Jongdae and Baekhyun are on a date--” he gestures to their mutant selves in the water, who have had the time of their gay little lives wandering around and eating food out of Baekhyun and Jongdae’s wallet. “--We--” Baekhyun gestures between them. “--are chaperones.”

“Then maybe when the kids are asleep--” Jongdae flutters his disgustingly long eyelashes flirtatiously. Baekhyun wants to kiss the smug look off his face, predictably. “--the adults can have some fun.”

“Wow,” Baekhyun replies incredulously. “Are you going to be this desperately thirsty all the time?” He should’ve figured Jongdae’s fuckboy hetero horniness wouldn’t just magically disappear after his sexual awakening.

Jongdae grins. “Yeah,” he admits easily, pushing his fingers through Baekhyun’s belt loops to tug him closer. “Better get used to it.”

Baekhyun’s face turns warm. “I guess I can try.” Jongdae leans in for another kiss; Baekhyun meets him halfway.

 

☾

 

Jongdae hums in contentment as Baekhyun sucks marks into his neck, savouring the taste of the skin he’s been missing for years.

“Looks like our other selves have stopped being complete idiots,” he remarks casually, and Baekhyun gives a noncommittal grunt as he bites at the spot beneath Jongdae’s ear that always makes him shiver, watching as Jongdae does just that. He pinches Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Stop that, you menace.”

Baekhyun licks over the spot in forgiveness, feeling Jongdae shudder beneath his palms at his waist. “I cannot believe you are watching alternate versions of us making out when _I’m_ right in front of you.”

“What can I say? It’s interesting to see,” Jongdae teases, so Baekhyun bites him again. “Ow!”

“More interesting than me?” Baekhyun retorts, cocking an eyebrow, a little petulant.

Jongdae snorts. “Please, I know you like the back of my hand.” He smirks infuriatingly. “Nothing interesting left to discover.”

Baekhyun frowns childishly, and Jongdae presses a soft kiss against his mouth, making it melt away.

“Besides,” Jongdae continues. “You can’t deny it’s not bizarre to see.”

At that he jerks his chin up to beyond the sand, where idiot Baekhyun and his equally as idiotic Jongdae laugh against each other’s mouths.

“I guess,” Baekhyun answers noncommittally, even as the sight fills him with a strange sense of disharmony. It isn’t unpleasant, per se, but it isn’t exactly pleasant either, to watch a version of himself do something like that. “Are you sure your voyeuristic exhibitionist tendencies aren’t speaking for you?”

“Oh shut up.” Jongdae rolls his eyes; Baekhyun snickers, unable to keep the smile off his face. It feels so right to be with Jongdae again after all this time, under the sun in the sea with sand between their toes. Baekhyun doesn’t want to leave.

But he knows he must.

They part only when the other Baekhyun yells at them from the sand, waving his phone in the air and shouting about Jongin having finally woken up for good. Jongdae and Baekhyun make eye contact, and then quickly dash up to reunite with their human selves, driving back to the college campus as quickly as Jongdae’s pathetic vehicle will allow.

“I’ve been asleep for how long!?” Jongin asks with wide, nervous eyes as Sehun hums beside him on the desk, studying with earphones in.

“Just a little over a day,” other Baekhyun answers, frowning. “Why does it matter?”

“Because having you here is upsetting the space-time continuum!” He points at Baekhyun and Jongdae. “And the hole left in our reality might cause a chain effect of other Baekhyuns and Jongdaes being transported to fill the space!” He falls back onto the bed with a hand against his forehead. “And replicas of me too!” He adds, frantic. “We have to get back immediately.”

The words bring with them a sense of dread, ringing in Baekhyun’s ears. He’s always known they’d have to return, of course he had, even though he’d pretended like he and Jongdae could stay. But still… he wishes he could have had more time, there’s still so much about this bright and beautiful world that Jongdae deserves to experience. That Baekhyun wants to experience with him.

“What, like… now?” Other Jongdae asks, shocked.

“Yes,” Jongin hisses. “ _Now_. We’ve wasted enough time as is.”

The other Baekhyun looks between Baekhyun and Jongdae’s faces. “But you just got here…” he looks saddened. Baekhyun can relate.

“Time flows the same between universes,” Jongin states, standing up. “Even if I wasn’t obligated by the laws of space to maintain balance…” he at least looks mildly apologetic. “Eclipse is soon. We can’t afford to delay our opportunity to fight back any longer.”

“You’re right,” Jongdae agrees, with a firm nod, and Jongin pauses.

“Wait.” He stares at Jongdae, only just noticing. “Why are _you_ here!?!?!?”

Other Baekhyun rolls his eyes and begins to help Jongin catch up on what he’s missed since being in a temporary coma; by the end of it all, Jongin stares at Jongdae with an open mouth and looks like he’s not quite sure how to reconcile with the fact that Jongdae has been double-double crossing all this time. Baekhyun can relate to that, too.

“If you’re on our side again,” Jongin says hesitantly. “Then can you finally explain what the hell this does.”

He reaches into his back pocket, then, and pulls out a small strange metal device, glowing a bright green. Jongdae doesn’t look surprised to see it, grimacing.

“This is… what I wanted to tell you, before.” He turns to Baekhyun, his face twisted in conflict. “Eclipse isn’t just about the changing of governments. It’s also the name of a new machine they’ve built…” he swallows. “One they designed while studying my manifest.”

“Huh?” Other Jongdae asks, and his Baekhyun just whispers,  _I’ll explain later_.

Jongin and Baekhyun bear similar looks of shock, Jongin inhaling sharply. “They’ll be able to track all mutants.”

“Maybe not even just mutants,” Jongdae reveals. “But… all bioelectrical signals across the planet. No one will ever be able to hide unless they can make their heart stop beating.”

It’s a terrifying thought, and Baekhyun feels the world around him spin.

Jongdae takes the core into his hands. “Once the RTF has this, they can power Eclipse once and for all, and with their new enforcement power while controlling the city--”

“Nobody is safe,” Baekhyun finishes for him, Jongdae giving a solemn nod. It’s horrifying to think about, that anyone, anywhere, will have their location known. At least Jongdae’s ability to sense mutant pulses is possible only within a short radius --one Baekhyun and the others hadn’t often enjoyed testing. With this machine they’ll be able to track even the non-mutants no matter where they go, eyes and ears everywhere. Privacy won’t even exist; the whole world will be theirs to watch over.

“That’s insane,” other Baekhyun blurts. “You have to stop them!”

Baekhyun huffs; obviously.

“This is hyperconcentrated mutant-bioelectric energy,” Jongdae explains, holding up the core. “If I overcharge it enough…”

“It will explode,” other Jongdae finishes for him, hand on his chin in thought.

Jongdae nods. “All we need to do is get this within a mile radius of the Vault, and it will take the whole building out.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Jongin replies, although he looks a little bit nervous at the idea of carrying a supercharged weapon around. “So long as we get the orbs to safety first.”

“No… no that won’t work,” other Baekhyun quickly inputs. “I saw the blueprints for the Red Vault… that thing isn’t a vault, it’s a fucking fortress.” He shakes his head adamantly. “It’s designed to withstand outside attacks. If you want the whole thing to crumble, it needs to be from the inside.”

Baekhyun, both Jongdaes, and Jongin all give him a look of bewilderment. Sehun is still humming out of tune as he studies.

“What?” Other Baekhyun looks around. “I’m literally an architect student, okay!! I spend all day looking at shit like this!!”

“Then how do you propose we destroy it?” Jongdae asks, face schooled into a hardened expression.

Human Baekhyun’s mouth twists in thought. “...It needs to be right at the centre, which I think on the map you had was…" He pulls out his phone, revealing an image of some blueprints Baekhyun doesn't know how he had acquired, zooming around on the screen. "Exactly where… Eclipse… is…”

Jongdae groans. “That’s the most heavily guarded room in the whole vault!”

Other Baekhyun shirks into his shoulders. “Sorry but… I’m like, ninety-five percent sure it’s the only way your plan will work. Seriously. I wrote a three-thousand word paper about fortresses designed during World War II…" he dangles his phone in mid-air. "I know what I’m about.”

“It’s a good thing we have you back, then,” Jongin tells Baekhyun. “It’ll be easier to get into the Vault with your manifest.”

Baekhyun nods shakily, not that there’s any pressure there, feeling himself go a little pale. Jongdae squeezes his wrist; Baekhyun isn’t alone anymore, and the reminder helps him relax.

“It’ll be even easier with my key,” Jongdae replies, and Baekhyun pulls out the tracking device at the mention. “They’ll know I switched sides since they heard me ask Baekhyun to take me with you, but they’ll be too busy believing I'm dead and organising everything before Eclipse to think about changing my authorisation codes.”

“So we have an in to the vault,” Jongin says slowly. “But not the city. All our safehouses have been wiped out.”

“Actually,” other Baekhyun inputs, clearing his throat. “I thought we might need a second chance to find the necklace so I uh-- left an anchor in Jongdae’s room?” Even the other Jongdae looks blatantly impressed by Baekhyun’s prowess.

“I’m relieved that you thought so far ahead,” Baekhyun tells his other self honestly, nodding in gratitude. “That’s twice you’ve saved our plan from falling through.” Other Baekhyun preens under the attention.

“Make sure to rub it in Junmyeon and Chanyeol’s faces that I totally helped once you’re back from saving the world, ‘kay?” He pauses. “After you remind them that they’re assholes.”

Baekhyun laughs softly. “Will do,” he promises. Silence passes.

“So this is really happening?” Other Jongdae asks quietly. “You’re really leaving?”

Well, now that they had a plan of action… “Yes,” Baekhyun replies, as other Jongdae gives him an indecipherable look.

“But not from here,” Jongin adds. “It needs to be from where we arrived. The bridge between realities will be thinnest there. It will take me less energy to leap.”

Baekhyun nods in acknowledgement, and after changing into their old clothes so they won’t freeze to death on the other side, with Jongdae taking other Baekhyun’s outfit, Jongdae, Sehun (who had been coaxed into joining by other Baekhyun pulling out an earphone and saying _hey wanna see some multidimensional space travel?_ And Sehun replying _yeah, I guess_ ) and other Baekhyun head towards the site. Baekhyun, however, lingers behind, taking in the last sight he’ll ever see of his once peaceful life.

He picks up the photo of other Baekhyun and his Jongdae smiling into the camera framed on the nightstand, and smiles at it with fondness before putting it down. Regular Jongdae waits behind him, in the entryway of the still-broken door.

“Before you go,” he starts hesitantly, breaking the thick silence. “I just wanted to give you something.”

Baekhyun isn’t sure what he’d expected, but Jongdae’s necklace isn’t it, sitting in the palm of other Jongdae’s hand. His eyes widen.

“I mean, I can hold onto it if you’d like,” Jongdae offers quietly. “But I figured the choice should be yours.”

Baekhyun freezes at the choice presented to him… Jongdae is giving him a ticket to come back, Jongdae is _inviting_ him to come back. Jongdae, despite the consequences, is giving an opportunity for Baekhyun to return to this world if he wants to. He touches the pendant around his own neck in thought. He knows what the right choice is, but that doesn’t mean he has to take it.

Baekhyun laughs quietly to no one. Oh, who is he trying to fool? He’s always been the hero all along, even if he’s tried to fight it.

He takes the necklace out of Jongdae’s hand. “Thank you,” he replies honestly. “But this necklace doesn’t belong to the Jongdae of this world.”He gives Jongdae a half-hearted smile. If Baekhyun’s Jongdae is willing to travel back and face his mistakes… then so is Baekhyun. He will follow Jongdae, no matter where he goes, and he won't run away again. Besides, they shouldn't leave any opportunity for somebody to use the necklaces to return to this world, whether it's via Jongin or not. It's best if the separate universes remain separate.

“Yeah,” Jongdae agrees readily. “I guess not.” He swallows. “Thank you, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun gives him an amused look. “For what?”

“For accidentally showing up, I don’t know?” Jongdae shrugs. “I’m just... I’m glad we met. Meeting you helped me realise a lot of things I should be doing better.” He rubs the back of his neck and laughs nervously.

“I’m glad we met too,” Baekhyun replies, earnest. “Thank you for being yourself--” Jongdae blinks at him in surprise. “--and thank you for all the food.”

Jongdae chuckles at that, loud and reluctant, and gives Baekhyun a genuine grin.

“C’mon Baekhyun,” he urges half-heartedly. “Let’s catch up to the others before they leap without you.”

“Being stuck here for a little while long wouldn’t be too bad,” Baekhyun jokes, returning Jongdae’s smile. This time, they both laugh.

 

☀

 

Baekhyun walks with mutant Jongdae in silence, trying to think of what to say. It’s a little awkward, especially as Sehun chats animatedly with Jongin a few steps ahead, he feels like he should have some sort of dramatic speech or monologue to give about Jongdae not being an asshole anymore as the better less emo Baekhyun willing to put him in his place, but he doesn’t. Baekhyun has always been terrible at goodbyes.

“I--” both Baekhyun and Jongdae start at the same time. “You go first,” Baekhyun insists.

“I just-- I wanted to thank you,” Jongdae relents. “For letting me come here.” He chuckles self-deprecatingly. “For believing I wasn’t entirely evil. And I’m… sorry. For hurting you.”

Baekhyun blinks, wondering what he’s talking about until he remembers having a gun pointed at his head that time by the hub.

“Oh,” Baekhyun blurts, mouth hanging open. “That’s okay, really. Um. Don’t sweat it?”

The awkward silence continues for a little while as they continue across campus in the dark. It’s just weird, frankly, because this Jongdae is still _a_ Jongdae but he’s not _Baekhyun’s_ Jongdae but on top of that, they haven’t had the fun, whacky bonding time Baekhyun’s Jongdae and the mutant Baekhyun have; in hindsight, Baekhyun doesn’t really know much about this Jongdae beyond the fact that he thinks a combination of ketchup and bbq sauce on fries is apparently delicious, and enjoys the abomination that is choc-mint.

“What were you going to say?” Jongdae asks eventually, and Baekhyun fumbles a little bit, having already forgotten.

“Um,” he tries. “Just that… y’know…” he kinda feels bad about thinking of giving him a _don’t be an asshole_ lecture when this Jongdae is obviously not going to fall into that shit again. “...Don’t be afraid to let yourself have good things. You’re not my Jongdae, but you’re still Jongdae. You deserve happiness too, no matter what you think you’ve done to not.”

It’s pretty lame and not as well-rehearsed as Baekhyun would’ve liked, but Jongdae does seem to relax. “Thank you,” he says, with a gentle smile. Baekhyun is at a lack of what to say.

“No problem.”

Mutant Baekhyun and normal Jongdae trail behind around five minutes later as Baekhyun redirects Jongin to the spot they fell through, and Baekhyun watches with interest as mutant Baekhyun thanks Sehun for all that he’s done, looking after him and whatnot. It’s pretty cute.

Jongin, on the other hand, seems to be making a point out of staring at the air where he’d leaped across last time, and Baekhyun smiles at the sight.

“You can’t escape me forever~” he taunts mockingly as he walks over to Jongin, hugging him from behind which causes him to let out a noise of surprise. “I’m gonna miss you too, y’know.”

“Yeah I guess…” Jongin mumbles noncommittally, although his eyes look a little wet in the shadows, wiping at them quickly. Baekhyun smiles at the sight.

“Thanks for saving my ass and taking care of me all this time,” Baekhyun tells Jongin honestly.

“Sorry for getting you in this mess to begin with,” Jongin replies.

“Nah, not your fault.” Baekhyun jabs a thumb over his shoulder to his counterpart. “He’s the one that let go.”

Jongin nods distantly, deep in thought. “Between you and me,” he says quietly. “I think he wanted to, y’know? Like he had no point to return to our universe.” Jongin’s smile turns sad. “I’m glad he’s found a reason, now.”

Baekhyun looks at mutant Jongdae, and then to mutant Baekhyun, and thinks about all the things that are different for all of them, now. “Not just one reason,” he says softly.

As they finally group up into the space, done with their goodbyes, there’s just one last person Baekhyun has yet to say anything to.

He’s apparently realised this too, as the other Baekhyun walks towards him slowly and they stare at each other, mirror images that are so similar and yet so different, unsure of what to say.

“Thanks for not screwing up my life and making me fail class attendance,” Baekhyun decides on eventually, making the other Baekhyun smile.

“Thank you not screwing mine up, either,” he replies amusedly, glancing behind him. There isn’t much more to say, really, because they’re the same person. Baekhyun knows what the other Baekhyun is thinking, and he knows what Baekhyun is thinking, too. They’ve lived each other’s lives, after all. There’s no one in the entire multiverse with a better understanding.

Other Baekhyun turns to walk away before stopping suddenly, biting back a smile, stepping back towards Baekhyun and leaning against his ear.

Which is when he proceeds to detail _every_ single one of Jongdae’s sensitive spots, where he likes to be touched, licked, bitten, kissed, where he likes Baekhyun’s mouth, his tongue, his hands. It’s an alarming amount of overwhelming information in a very short, brief, informative amount of time, and once mutant Baekhyun is pulling back with a grin on his face he’s left Baekhyun with a half-melted mind trying to pointedly remember every single cheat code that’s been presented to him before he forgets.

“What’d he say?” Jongdae asks from beside Baekhyun after walking over from his talk with mutant Jongdae, snapping him out of his dirty thoughts and back into reality.

“Huh? Nothing!” Baekhyun quickly squeaks, red-faced, and Jongdae mercifully lets it go as they’re both distracted by the way mutant Baekhyun pulls his Jongdae’s necklace out of his pocket and clasps it around his neck, their eyes sharing a tangible moment between them as they lose themselves in each other’s gaze, mutant Baekhyun’s gesture to give up his ticket back to this world speaking more volume than words ever could.

“And here I thought nobody would ever be grosser than you two,” Sehun remarks dryly with a faint look of distaste across his face. “Disgusting.”

“Oh just you wait Sehunnie,” Baekhyun teases, feeling Jongdae’s fingers weave through his own, and distantly thinking about how their whole friendship group is gonna freak when they realise he and Jongdae are finally together. “We might start being a whole lot grosser.”

“Spare me,” Sehun deadpans, and Baekhyun suppresses his laugh in favour of watching Jongin take each of the other two mutants’ hands into his own, staring at Jongdae, Baekhyun and Sehun in return.

“Ready?” Jongin asks.

“Ready,” everyone responds, whether they’re actually leaping or not.

The air begins to fizzle, the smell of ozone present, and Baekhyun watches with interest as Baekhyun, Jongdae and Jongin’s bodies begin to disintegrate into fine, black particles.

Then, just like that, they’re gone.


	3. HOME / ECLIPSE

 

###### "I’m always soft for you, that’s the problem. You could come knocking on my door five years from now and I would open my arms wider and say ‘come here, it’s been too long, it felt like home with you.'" [[X](http://5000letters.tumblr.com/post/78683116288/im-always-soft-for-you-thats-the-problem-you)]

 

☾

 

Jongin leaps them straight to the new hub now that there’s no issue of Jongdae sensing his pulse and tracking them down, plunging them back into the shadows.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” Jongdae remarks suddenly, doubling over.

“Shouldn’t have eaten so much,” Baekhyun complains in nauseated agreement, also pressing a hand to his stomach as he grimaces. He blinks to get the sun spots out of his vision, and allows his eyes to adjust, taking in the shocked faces in front of him, and noting how a good chunk of them have their manifests activated at the ready.

But not pointed at Baekhyun, of course; at Jongdae.

Baekhyun swiftly steps in front of him. “Stand down,” he orders firmly.

“Have you lost your mind?” Junmyeon counters. “He’s the enemy, Baekhyun! Whether you love him or not doesn’t change that!”

Words that were often once frequently repeated to Baekhyun and caused him agony as he bottled up his guilt now only irk him.

“Well surprise surprise Junmyeon but he’s _not_ the enemy, so stand down.”

“Baekhyun is right,” Jongin inputs. “Jongdae has always been one of us.”

Jongdae stands up straight then, still hiding behind Baekhyun nervously, and one by one those who still have their manifests begin to deactivate them, watching with wary eyes.

“Sounds like you have some explaining to do, now that you’re back,” Chanyeol says, stepping forward with a timid smile. Baekhyun is so relieved to see him again.

Baekhyun huffs. “You could say that.” 

As quickly as possible, Baekhyun recounts what he can, revealing the truth about Jongdae much to everybody’s shock --most are still evidently reluctant to trust him, but Baekhyun ignores them. It’s only quietly to Junmyeon and the other self-appointed accidental leaders of the rebellion that Baekhyun and Jongin take turns detailing how they’d gotten back here, which is where Baekhyun is shocked to discover that apparently his other self, Jongin and Sehun had had to jumpstart on a solo mission. Other Baekhyun was right, Junmyeon and Chanyeol really do need to be told that they’re assholes, so he makes a point to emphasize how much the other Baekhyun had helped, causing Jongdae to bite back a small smile.

It’s Jongdae, however, who reveals the truth about Eclipse, and explains their plan for breaking into the Red Vault.

“We’ll get to the orbs first,” Jongdae explains. “Jongin can leap them back to a safe spot outside the city for you all to get your powers back, and then you can infiltrate the city once the vault is destroyed. Without their stronghold, the Red Force is powerless.”

“But--” Jongin frowns. “--If I make a leap that distance even once, it will take me a little while before I can recharge enough to come back in and get you guys out.”

Jongdae and Baekhyun exchange a glance. “That’s a risk we’re willing to take, Jongin,” Baekhyun assures.

“We’ll need time to get to Eclipse regardless,” Jongdae says. “And time to overcharge the core. By the time that’s done, you have to have gotten all the orbs out of there, Jongin. They can only be broken by their owners or else the charge held inside will fizzle out.”

“Jongdae and I will infiltrate the vault,” Baekhyun continues. “We’ll drop an anchor in the orbs room and will let Sehun know once it’s done.”

“And what about the rest of us?” Junmyeon asks. “How can we help?”

Baekhyun is a little surprised by the offer, used to Junmyeon sitting back and beating himself up for not having his manifest anymore as Baekhyun handles most of the active missions.

“We need two other jobs handled simultaneously,” Baekhyun explains, holding up two fingers accordingly. “The first is a distraction attack outside. There’s a lot of armed guards in that vault, and we need at least half of them cleared out if we have any hope of sneaking through. That includes mutant pets.”

Soojung hums beside them. “I think most of us can handle that.”

Baekhyun nods to her before turning back to the group. “The second is prisoners. They’re kept in the early layers of the vault, but Jongin can’t leap that many people out at a time. We’ll need a small taskforce to sneak in with Jongdae and I, then split up and focus on getting them out.”

“I can definitely do that,” Chanyeol offers. “But I’ll need manifested back up.”

“Take three, maybe four fighters,” Baekhyun tells him. “I can’t hide a group much larger than that, and the smaller the group, the less focus the RTF will be putting on you.”

“Baekhyun and I won’t go completely unnoticed infiltrating Eclipse,” Jongdae inputs. “Their forces will be spread thin trying to deal with the threats inside and out.”

“Once the vault is down, they’ll have nothing to fall back to,” Baekhyun finishes. “That’s when we take the city for ourselves.”

It seems to fill the air with a strange sort of light, Baekhyun thinks, this newfound determination and hope. Decades of misery and suffering simply for being born different… it ends now. Baekhyun refuses to let the people of this world live in shadows any longer, not when he knows how the alternative can be.  Judging by the expression on Jongdae’s face, beside him, Jongdae feels the same way too.

“Alright,” Junmyeon confirms, agreeing to the plan. “So when do we strike?”

Baekhyun meets his eyes through the low-light. “The day when they're spread at their thinnest. The day of Eclipse”

 

☀

 

Baekhyun is probably grinning like an idiot.

No, scratch that, he knows he’s grinning like an idiot.

But that doesn’t mean he knows how to stop.

“Honestly,” Sehun complains from beside him, throwing a fry at Baekhyun’s face, which he doesn’t even flinch at, letting it slap his nose before falling onto the ground in front of him. “If you give your boyfriend one more wistful look I’m going to defenestrate you.”

“But look at him, Sehunnie,” Baekhyun argues, gesturing to Jongdae stretching on the sidelines of the field. “He is so! Cu--”

“Cute wonderful amazing handsome talented awe-inspiring yes yes you’ve used all of these superlatives literally one thousand times each tonight alone.” Sehun pulls a disgusted face. “If I had known you two were going to be this gross once you inevitably realised you were in love, I would have requested a different roommate the first year in.”

Baekhyun giggles like the in-love idiot he is. “Love you too, Sehunnie~”

“Not as much as you love having Jongdae’s tongue in your mouth,” Sehun grumbles, bitterly munching on another fry. “Why couldn’t you have just stayed on the team? At least that way you could be mooning him from down there--” he points to the field with a fry. “--instead of up here. With me. Who’s suffering.”

“Life is too short to do things you don’t enjoy,” Baekhyun replies matter-of-factly. He’d kind of learnt that one the hard way. “And I am not built for football. I am built for consuming mashed potatoes by the pound and playing League of Legends.”

Sehun snorts. “The last time you ate mashed potatoes, you forgot they were made with milk and didn’t take a lactase pill, so you threw up afterwards.” Baekhyun pouts. “Also, you’re silver five, so I’d say you’re not built for anything other than being in love with Jongdae and making me suffer.”

Baekhyun sighs wistfully as he rests his chin in his palm, elbow above his knee, eyes drifting back to Jongdae on the field. “Yeah, probably,” he agrees with a little lovesick giggle. After all, he and Jongdae are in love in more than one universe; Baekhyun really _is_ built to be in love with him.

Sehun looks up at the sky. “God, if you’re out there, I’m begging you--” Baekhyun shoves him hard enough he nearly falls of the bench. He’s distracted from chewing out Sehun any further though, however, by Jongdae looking into the stands and catching Baekhyun’s eyes, grinning and waving like an idiot with both arms. Baekhyun returns it equally as enthusiastically.

“Eugh.” Sehun grimaces.

“Have the caterpillars in your rotten apple heart not turned to butterflies yet?” Baekhyun coos, fluttering his eyelashes.

Sehun gives him a flat look. “No. Maybe once they do I’ll set them free at you and Jongdae’s wedding instead of doves.”

“That’s not a bad idea actually…” Baekhyun mumbles, and pulls out his phone, tapping open the notes app and typing into the one that’s titled _FUTURE IDEAS FOR THE BEST WEDDING EVER (DONT FORGET!!!)_. Sehun facepalms.

Football is about as boring to watch from the bleachers as it is from the bench, but still not as boring as actually playing it. However, despite the coach’s fury that Baekhyun was quitting the team (apparently other Baekhyun had made _quite_ the impression) and warning that he was never to show his backstabbing face around again, Baekhyun has still showed up to the last game before fall break, mostly to be a good supportive boyfriend and definitely not because he has had one-thousand-and-one pent-up fantasies about wearing Jongdae’s letterman jacket post-game ever since Jongdae joined the stupid team four years ago when they were both freshman --pre Baekhyun's drop out and being set back two years, of course.

The charm has probably worn off a little since Baekhyun still has his own letterman jacket, but --oh, who is he kidding, he’s _so_ looking forward to wearing Jongdae’s.

Other than his football fame, however, it turns out other Baekhyun really hadn’t ruined Baekhyun’s life much beyond Yixing thinking he’s an idiot, apparently, Chanyeol still mad at him for some dumb prank, a broken front door, and his mother reaming him a new asshole for not calling or replying to her for over a week. Life is back to normal, cramming for assignments he’s way behind on and general uni stress, no doppelgängers or magic powers or alternate dimensions, and in a way it’s almost… boring; but at the same time, it’s given Baekhyun an appreciation for the simpler things, and has taught him to live for himself above all else, to not let anxiety and the opinions of others drag him down. It’s nice. Despite everything… he’s kind of glad they swapped.

(Especially since it was sorta the motivator for him and Jongdae to finally get their dumb asses to confess.)

As the buzzer signals the end of the match and another win for their team, Baekhyun stands up and loudly cheers alongside everyone else, Sehun only looking extremely relieved beside him.

“Dobby is a free elf at last…” Sehun remarks as Baekhyun runs down out onto the field and Sehun shakes his head before inevitably going to walk back to the dorms, no longer needing to stick around just to keep Baekhyun company.

Of course, despite having experienced a post-apocalyptic world and fought super mutants, Baekhyun is still kind of afraid of the coach, so he sticks a little to the sidelines and waits for Jongdae to spot him, jogging towards him as soon as he does.

“Hi,” Baekhyun says giddily as he curls his fingers through Jongdae’s 21. “You played amazingly.”

“Only because I had you cheering for me,” Jongdae returns smoothly with a charming grin; Baekhyun snorts.

“Sehun’s right, we _are_ disgusting,” he replies absentmindedly, as Jongdae pulls his helmet off and happily pulls Baekhyun in for a kiss by pushing at the small of his back, Baekhyun smiling against Jongdae’s mouth even though he tastes like grass and sweat.

“Wait for me to get changed?” Jongdae asks quietly, breath ghosting over Baekhyun’s lips.

“Okay,” Baekhyun says dumbly because honestly, what is a man meant to do when Jongdae looks like that and asks him for something? Say no?

Baekhyun rocks back and forth on his heels as he waits outside the locker rooms. And waits. And keeps on waiting. Until every single other member of the team is gone and he’s exasperated and cold because he purposefully under dressed for a goddamn reason. Grumbling, Baekhyun enters the locker room, figuring the team won’t really care about the intrusion since he technically won them the last game, and calls Jongdae’s name.

“Here,” Jongdae says, fully dressed and showered, sitting on the bench with a dumb smile on his face. Baekhyun raises his eyebrows.

“Any particular reason why you’re keeping your _extremely_ cold hot date waiting?” Baekhyun rubs his own bare arms to prove a point. “Look at these goosebumps Jongdae, you monster.”

Jongdae just grins even wider. “I was under the impression I owed you a locker room make out sesh.”

Baekhyun scoffs in disbelief. “You’re unbelievable.” He’s walking towards Jongdae regardless, predictably.

“Yeah but you love me anyway,” Jongdae mumbles, as Baekhyun easily straddles over his thighs and presses their lips together, wrapping his arms over Jongdae’s shoulders and around his neck to keep himself in place as Jongdae’s hands settle at Baekhyun’s waist, warm and comforting. Kissing Jongdae like this always feels good no matter where they do it, slow and soft and so fucking loving, like they pour their hearts into their tongue and teeth. It’s really, really gross.

Poor Sehun.

Jongdae sighs happily as Baekhyun bites beneath his earlobe --a nifty little trick given to him by his other self, one of many-- weaving his fingers through Baekhyun’s hair and giving encouraging tugs.

“You know, the other Baekhyun pushed me against the lockers…” Jongdae comments offhandedly. Baekhyun sits up and squints at him.

“And you’re mentioning your blatant adultery because…?”

Jongdae shrugs, smiling. “I dunno. Just thought you might want to get as even with him as possible.”

Baekhyun looks at the grey locker doors behind Jongdae with a wince. “You weigh like, one hundred and fifty pounds and I’m pretty sure my muscles are made of overcooked rice and noodles.”

Jongdae snorts. “What’s the point of having joined the football team at all if you have no strength?” Baekhyun hums.

“Well, there _was_ this cute boy I was trying to impress...” he starts.

“Yeah?” Jongdae prompts.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun repeats. “We hadn’t been spending as much time together as we used to so I thought joining the thing that was taking up half his time was a good idea...”

Jongdae snickers. “How’d that work out for you?” He mutters, lips a hair’s breadth away from Baekhyun’s.

“Dunno yet,” Baekhyun replies, and with an amount of strength he’s praying to the God Sehun no longer believes in that he still has, Baekhyun pulls Jongdae up and slams his back into the locker doors with a satisfying metallic thud, a hand under one of his thighs to hitch it over Baekhyun’s hip. “Still tryna gage that one.”

“See how hot this is?” Jongdae asks him. “ _See?_ ”

Baekhyun just rolls his eyes and leans in for another kiss as Jongdae’s arms rest over his shoulders comfortably, sighing happily. Baekhyun’s impressed with himself for holding Jongdae up like this, but he doesn’t think he can keep it up for that much longer, much to Jongdae’s inevitable disappointment.

Still, they make out in the locker rooms for long enough that the lights overhead get switched off. Baekhyun immediately begins to feel panicked in the darkness, bringing back uncomfortable memories, but then he feels Jongdae’s forehead pressed against his as Jongdae snickers, and easily relaxes.

“How about you and I get out of here?” Jongdae suggests in that lower voice of his that he knows drives Baekhyun crazy. Baekhyun agrees, inwardly hoping Jongdae gives him that stupid fucking letterman jacket as they walk out. When he doesn’t, he decides Jongdae may need a few hints.

“Brrr, it’s _so_ cold,” Baekhyun pointedly says as they walk across the field together towards Jongdae’s car. Jongdae frowns at him.

“Why didn’t you wear more clothes, you idiot?” He scolds, wrapping an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder and pulling him into his narrow but firm, beautifully sculpted football-playing chest. It isn’t his letterman jacket, but it’s a pretty good consolation prize.

“Because I refuse to believe summer has ended,” Baekhyun replies petulantly.

“It’s November.”

“Still.”

Jongdae just laughs, shaking his head in disbelief, and Baekhyun has had it up to here.

“Alright, that’s it!” He exclaims. “You’ve failed the boyfriend test. Why aren’t you draping your letterman jacket across my beautifully cold and broad shoulders Jongdae? Hm?”

Jongdae gives him a confused look. “What?” He asks. “I didn’t even bring it. I never wear it… you know that.”

“I know I know that!” Baekhyun retorts. “But now that I’m your boyfriend you’re legally obligated to give it to me when I say I’m cold and then _I_ can wear it and brag to everyone about how my super hot boyfriend is the quarterback.”

Jongdae snorts. “I’m not even the quarterback.”

“I know that too!” Baekhyun argues. “But I can pretend!!! Why are you ruining all my fantasies!!!” He juts out his bottom lip in a pout. “Worst boyfriend ever.”

“Hmm you’re probably right,” Jongdae relents. “I am the worst boyfriend ever… all your fantasies are so romantic and here I am, daydreaming about you naked, in my bed, fuc--”

Baekhyun puts both hands over Jongdae’s mouth, face red, refusing to let him finish that sentence.

“You.” Baekhyun inhales. “Are so unbelievably horny. You are at least ninety-five percent horn.”

Jongdae licks his palm, causing Baekhyun to pull his hands back with a grimace. “I don’t think that’s the noun for ‘horny’.” Jongdae snickers.

“Yeah well you would know, wouldn’t you?” Baekhyun scowls. He makes a crucifix with his index fingers. “ _Lust demon_.”

“Aw babe, you have the sweetest nicknames for me,” Jongdae coos, wrapping his arms around Baekhyun’s waist and pressing a soft kiss to the side of his neck, which of course just turns to a kiss on his mouth, which just turns to making out in the middle of the football field. Predictable.

“I’m gonna to miss you so much next week,” Jongdae complains eventually as he pulls back, a frown on his face, fiddling with Baekhyun’s fingers.

“Jongdae our houses are like, an hour apart,” Baekhyun gives him a fond, but exasperated, look.

“Yeah and that’s like, fifty-five minutes more apart than if we were both staying here over the break.” Jongdae frowns. “How am I gonna kiss you when you’re so far away from me?”

Baekhyun bites his lip, trying to suppress his smile, but it’s no use. They’re both really gross and really sappy and he fucking loves it.

“If other us can handle hating each other for over a year, I think we can handle an hour’s distance for a week,” Baekhyun pats Jongdae’s cheek patronisingly, who frowns harder.

“But they’re tough, badass super mutants,” he whines. “I am but a weak mortal with a soft heart--”

“Alien descendant super mutants,” Baekhyun corrects, ignoring the latter half of Jongdae’s sentence. He pouts.

“You’re so mean,” Jongdae complains.

“You love me~” Baekhyun teases.

Jongdae’s grin is brighter than the sun. “Luckily for me you love me too.”

Baekhyun smiles into the kiss.

 

☾

 

Jongin leaps Jongdae and Baekhyun straight to Jongdae’s old apartment cell first, which has been left uncared about, leaving them alone immediately as they wait for him to recharge in energy enough to get Chanyeol and others through, too. Carrying more than two people at once is too much strain on his body unless he wants to be wiped out, which means Baekhyun and Jongdae are left to fester in a strained, tense silence.

But it is, despite everything, not because of them; on the contrary, Jongdae has proved over the last few weeks of planning that he truly is back to himself, helping out around the hub and attempting to earn everybody’s trust back, apologising over and over again to all the people he’s hurt. It’s been admirable, first and foremost, to see Jongdae earning up to his mistakes, but more than that it’s been relieving _._ Baekhyun and Jongdae were a team long before they were even mutants, stupid little orphan street-rats taking turns stealing food from wherever they could. Jongdae is Baekhyun’s other half in all ways, and having him back is like dividing the burden on his shoulders by two. Baekhyun no longer feels alone when he has Jongdae to hold his wrist and remind him to sleep, to eat, to not blame himself for anything that goes wrong, and it’s so nice to have back Baekhyun doesn’t even know how he’d lived without Jongdae to begin with.

“What are you thinking about?” Jongdae asks, pulling Baekhyun out of his thoughts as he cups Baekhyun’s face, thumbs brushing over his cheekbones. Baekhyun leans into the touch.

“You,” Baekhyun admits easily, grinning cheekily as he places his hand over Jongdae’s and presses a gentle kiss to the inside of his wrist. “Always.”

“You going to turn into a romantic idiot on me now? Really?”

“Well I could die tonight.” Baekhyun shrugs. “May be the only opportunity I get left.”

“Don’t say that,” Jongdae quickly scolds, frowning. “No one is dying tonight. Least of all _you_. I won’t let anyone hurt you, Baekhyun, I promise.”

Many people could say such words to Baekhyun, but it’s only Jongdae, he knows, who means them.

Baekhyun inhales steadily, and his fingers tighten their hold over Jongdae’s. “Never leave me again,” he warns lowly, eyes searching Jongdae’s face. “I won’t be able to withstand it.”

Jongdae’s smile is firm. “Never again.”

They kiss, and it feels like salvation, like finding water on dry land, or a sun in a never-ending darkened sky. Baekhyun savours the feeling of Jongdae’s lips against his, half because he’s always afraid Jongdae will leave him again, and isn’t sure how to stop, half because this very may well be his last chance to kiss him; no matter what Jongdae says. They pull apart only when the room begins to stink of ozone, foreheads pressed against one another as they smile, and Jongin, Chanyeol and Seungwan pop into the room.

“Oh, were you two having a moment?” Chanyeol asks teasingly as Jongin leaps out again. “Please, please--” he waves his hands. “--continue.”

Baekhyun and Jongdae make knowing eye contact.

“No it’s been sufficiently ruined, I think,” Jongdae comments wryly. Chanyeol snorts. Baekhyun doesn't care though, wrapping a hand around the back of Jongdae’s neck to pull him in for another impassioned kiss, sucking on his tongue so unabashedly that Jongdae moans.

“You never kiss _me_ like that,” Seungwan bitterly mumbles to Chanyeol, who frowns. Baekhyun’s lips curl against Jongdae’s; payback managed.

Jongin leaps in with Seulgi and Joohyun moments later, Chanyeol’s backup, and leaps out again, with Chanyeol asking Soojung and Junmyeon if they’re in position over the comms.

“ _We’re ready_ ,” Soojung tells them. “ _You?_ ”

Chanyeol looks to Baekhyun, who nods in affirmation. “Ready.”

Sirens start blaring, and that’s their cue, Baekhyun inhaling steadily as he reaches into his power and feels it flare up at the touch, bending the light and wrapping it around them all.

“Stay close,” he orders; it’s not a perfect illusion, can’t be, when it’s this large, so Baekhyun can’t ensure they’ll be completely unseen, but he’ll try his best.

They quickly run past the battlefield where Baekhyun catches glimpses of Soojung and Sunyoung fighting in large blasts of solar energy and earth, as well as tens of other mutants taking down the soldiers at the front lines. Pulling Jongdae’s old tracking device out of his pocket, he holds it up to the censor, and the first gate in the vault’s first wall opens.

Every time a squadron of soldiers jogs past them, Baekhyun makes them all freeze in place so he can hold the illusion more steadily around them, making sure they’re completely invisible. It slows down their progress, but it’s necessary for buying them more time in the long run. They manage to make it to the prison cell block undetected, and Baekhyun flinches at what he sees as they open the doors with Jongdae’s key, tens of government-enemy mutants strung up in pristine white cells, dazed and drugged, undoubtedly experimented on. Baekhyun rushes towards Yixing’s cell, his skin is pale and withered, bones sticking out pointedly beneath its paper thin texture.

“Baekhyun…?” Yixing asks, squinting.

“We’re here,” Baekhyun smiles in relief, finally pulling Yixing out of his restraints and handing him over to Chanyeol. “Keep them all safe,” he orders.

“Of course,” Chanyeol nods, jerking his chin to Jongdae who’s still standing in the entryway of the cell block, looking away in guilt. Baekhyun wonders how many of these prisoners are here because of Jongdae, and decides he’d rather not know. “Now go save the day, dumbass.”

Baekhyun grins at him, and wraps his power around himself and Jongdae more tightly as they sprint further into the Vault, hand in hand since Jongdae can't see Baekhyun. There’s a reason they’ve never been able to infiltrate the Vault before, beyond it’s un-hackable security system and mercenary-ridden floors, and it’s the fact that the Red Vault is built like a never-ending maze, unable to be navigated by intruders, twisting corridors and trap dead-ends, no matter how much they'd tried to learn it. But Jongdae knows his way, so Baekhyun follows him, placing all his faith in Jongdae wholeheartedly, through every twist and every turn, wrapping the illusion around them tighter each time they pass an RTF soldier in their white uniforms and red visors.

Eventually, they reach a larger door which leads to a spiralling staircase, Jongdae electrocuting the guards until they pass out, and Jongdae wraps his hand around Baekhyun’s wrist as they sprint down into the Vault’s underbelly, revealing shelves and shelves of glowing, charged orbs.

“Shit,” Baekhyun breathes out… there must be hundreds, and not all of them belong to mutants who are necessarily alive. Jongdae nods grimly, but pulls a wooden bear out of his pocket all the same, tossing it into the centre of the room.

“It’s done,” Jongdae says as he presses the comm in his ear. Jongin appears immediately.

“Oh fuck,” he remarks.

“How much time will you need?” Jongdae asks, fingers tightening around the core at his belt. Baekhyun squeezes his wrist.

“Shit, I don’t know, this is a lot…” Jongin bites his lip worriedly, than shakes his head in determination. “Not long,” he decides. “I can get most of these out in ten, maybe fifteen minutes?” Jongin winces. “If I push myself that much, though… I won’t be able to leap you out.”

Jongdae’s jaw clenches. “That’s fine, we’ll have a window before the core detonates completely. We should be able to get out.”

Jongin looks relieved. “Okay,” he says, swallowing. “Good luck.”

“ _Stay safe, you three_ ,” Junmyeon adds over the comms, listening in.

Jongdae leads Baekhyun out of the basement and past the unconscious guards deeper and deeper into the vault. The hallways begin to grow more and more empty as they do, and while Baekhyun would usually chalk this up to a side-effect of them dealing with the threat on the outside, not realising they’ve been infiltrated… something isn’t right.

“This is it,” Jongdae says, stopping them at the beginning of a hallway, where large, metal doors loom at the end. Baekhyun gulps, stepping forward, but Jongdae holds him back.

“Wait,” Jongdae says, pointing to the ceiling. “Thermal cameras.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen in realisation; if there are thermal cameras here, that means they know he’s coming. Not just anyone, _Baekhyun_ specifically. Given by the pale look on Jongdae’s face, he’s suspected as much, but he still rouses his manifest all the same, shooting small electric sparks at the cameras that causes them to short circuit and fizzle out.

“They know,” Baekhyun breathes out.

“Yeah,” Jongdae agrees, gulping. “But they’re used to you attacking alone.” He laces his fingers through Baekhyun’s. “This time, I’m here too.”

Baekhyun smiles at him, rewrapping them both in an illusion of invisibility, and they walk forward.

At first, the huge room seems completely empty, pitch black, but as the lights switch on the whole place begins to be illuminated, revealing a never-ending drop into nothingness beneath a thin walkway that branches out to Eclipse. The machine is fucking huge, a tower of steel and glowing energy that seemingly hums with life, branching out like a tree, the domed roof around it displaying a map for Eclipse’s processing systems to reveal where it senses pulses, and it’s strange to think that something so large and wholly evil came from researching Jongdae, when he is so entirely good.

Jongdae stares at the tower with malice, and guilt, too. Baekhyun squeezes his hand.

It looks like they’re alone, at first, but as they walk closer to Eclipse, Baekhyun notices Minseok lying on one of its steel branches a few metres up, looking bored.

“I know you’re there,” he taunts, eyes seeming to meet Baekhyun’s even through the invisibility. “No point in hiding.”

Baekhyun lets the illusion drop, and Minseok’s eyes narrow as he spots Jongdae behind him.

“Traitor,” Minseok spits out, leaping down to the ground. From behind Eclipse, tens of armed guards step out and raise their laser rifles. “I always knew you were too weak to be one of us.”

“I _am_ one of you,” Jongdae argues. “Because you’re a mutant too, Minseok. Why fight for their side?”

“Because we’re dangerous!” Minseok shouts, irritated. “Our powers hurt others Jongdae, why don’t you understand that? Weapons deserve to be regulated!”

“We aren’t weapons we’re _people_ ,” Jongdae argues back, impassioned. “And I’m sorry they’ve brainwashed you into believing you aren’t.”

The effect is immediate: Minseok’s face twists in fury, and he charges at Jongdae quickly, whose body lights up with blue sparks to dodge, lightning-fast reflexes and all. But Minseok isn’t fighting Jongdae alone, and Baekhyun uses the gap in his defense while he’s preoccupied striking Jongdae to kick Minseok from behind, making him cough and wheeze as air is forced out of his lungs. The firing squad unleashes their bullets immediately, but Jongdae weaves a storm of electricity around them that zaps any bolts out of the air, an effective shield.

“It doesn’t have to be this way, Minseok!” Jongdae shouts as Minseok wipes at the blood under his lip and stands, staggering on the walkway. “It’s never too late to do what’s right!”

“I _am_ doing what’s right,” Minseok spits, and charges in again, but Baekhyun is faster, meeting him in the middle and holding him back.

“ _Go_ , Jongdae,” Baekhyun shouts, and Jongdae obliges reluctantly, his body crackling with electricity before he leaps a hundred metres into the air and grabs onto Eclipse, climbing up its steel branches. Minseok grunts, cold to the touch as Baekhyun pins him down, and he’s forced into jumping back from frost bite, watching Minseok hurl icicles uselessly as his electrical shield fries them mid-air.

“This is your fault,” Minseok hisses at Baekhyun. Baekhyun kind of misses the Minseok from the other world, who smiled at other Baekhyun with exasperated fondness and just wanted to help hurt animals. Baekhyun had always loathed Minseok for being the RTF’s little pet, but after seeing his counterpart and knowing that they can’t truly be all that different, he hesitates. There’s goodness inside Minseok, there must be, otherwise Jongdae would not try to save him in the way that he has.

“Jongdae’s right,” Baekhyun replies, meeting Minseok’s eyes. “It doesn’t have to be this way. You _are_ one of us, Minseok. You can still join us.”

Minseok just shakes his head, laughing bitterly, devoid of any humour. “Don’t you get it, Baekhyun?” He returns. “You’re no different to the enemy you fight. What will happen once you take over the city, hm?” Baekhyun tenses, eyes wide. “You think everything will just magically be better? Poverty, gone? Shadows disappeared? The corrupt uncorrupted?” Minseok’s smile is cruel. “This world is poisoned, Baekhyun, and its people too. Mutants at the top or the bottom won’t change that.”

“Then _help_ us,” Baekhyun implores. “Join us. Prevent us from just becoming another Red Force.”

Minseok shakes his head, and his twisted smile turns sad. “There’s no stopping human nature.”

But Baekhyun doesn’t believe that, because he knows human nature, and it isn’t this. Human nature is the love he encapsulates across all universes, the way Jongdae’s smile is the same; it’s the fact that Junmyeon decided to stop cowering away in a spiral of self-pity, that Jongin was determined to fix his mistakes no matter what, the way Jongdae fights to earn Baekhyun’s loyalty, the way other Baekhyun persisted in school despite his shortcomings, the fact that other Jongdae decided to be honest with his feelings. Human nature isn’t a tangible thing, it’s ever-changing, and the one thing that’s constant about it is across all of time and space is that human nature is _not giving up_ , to not accept misery at face value and to fight for something better.

There’s a large hum as the room comes to life, Jongdae having implanted the core in Eclipse, and it’s accompanied by a crack of thunder as the core begins to overcharge, warnings flashing on the overhead dome roof as Eclipse wanes, creaking as it sways like a tree in the wind. The armed soldiers shout and run past Baekhyun and Minseok completely uncaring as they flee the building, and Jongdae leaps back down to the ground.

“Go,” he pushes Baekhyun forward, who stumbles into Minseok, both watching Jongdae with wide eyes. He looks frantic and frazzled, skin dancing with too much electricity, live-wired. “I have to stay back to make sure the core gets enough charge.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen in realisation. “What?” He snaps. “ _No_ , Jongdae. I’m not leaving you.”

“... Jongdae is right,” Minseok says coolly, manifest disappearing entirely. He already knows they've lost, there's no point in fighting any further. “Only he can ensure the core powers through to the final detonation.”

Jongdae gives a sad smile, and Baekhyun realises that Jongdae always knew this was coming, right since the start, had walked into here knowing he it was a suicide mission.

But only for Jongdae.

“You promised not to leave me!” Baekhyun shouts angrily, tears welling in his eyes as Minseok begins tugging him back. “You _promised_!”

“I’m sorry, Baekhyun,” Jongdae’s smile turns lopsided. “It was the only way.” Jongdae looks to Minseok. “Get him out of here, yeah?”

Minseok nods, but Baekhyun struggles, fights against the icy restraints around his wrists as Minseok hoists him over one shoulder and begins sprinting out, but it’s fruitless. Baekhyun’s power is nearly depleted from having used it getting them into the vault, and his mind is succumbing to despair as he sees the Eclipse behind Jongdae begin to glow green as the tree overcharges. Jongdae’s sad smile and giant burst of lightning are the last things he sees before Minseok busts them out of the vault and onto the battlefield outside on a fast moving wave of ice.

Baekhyun collapses onto the ground as soon as he can, cursing Minseok, screaming, watching as the Red Vault is devoured in a field of blinding green light.

“You _left_ him,” he shouts to nobody in particular. “You left him to die you _cowards_ \--”

“Baekhyun--” Junmyeon tries, the soldiers around them ceasing to fight in favour of watching the bright light shine in their world of darkness. Baekhyun isn’t paying attention to them.

“Jongdae is gone and I--”

"--Stop overreacting--"

" _Overreacting_?" Baekhyun spits. "He's fucking risking his life for you and you say I'm--"

The air begins to smell like ozone.

Jongin appears in front of him in a whiff of disintegrated matter, cutting Baekhyun off, semi-burnt and holding an equally as fried Jongdae in his arms.

Baekhyun rushes towards him immediately.

“This is more interesting than college classes at least, right?” Jongdae jokes as Jongin transfers him into Baekhyun’s arms, groaning as Baekhyun gently lies him onto the ground. “Ow,” he whines.

Baekhyun looks to Jongin desperately. “But you-- the orbs--”

“Aren’t more important than someone’s life,” Junmyeon says as he walks forward, pinching the bridge of his nose. His posture slackens, and he smiles crookedly. “What sort of leader would I be if I didn’t know when one of my own was lying to us?”

Jongdae looks away guiltily, then, wincing, and Baekhyun smacks his shoulder immediately. “You fucking  _idiot_.”

“ _Ow_.”

“I can’t believe you were going to sacrifice yourself like that? And for what? Some stupid manifests?”

“Baek--”

“I’m glad you’re alive since now I can _kill you myself_ you stupid piece of--”

“ _Baekhyun_ ,” Jongdae interrupts, smiling, his eyes travel past Baekhyun’s head. “Look.”

Baekhyun follows his gaze, and notices everyone on the battlefield, mutant or Red Force, are doing much the same, the green beam of light in the centre of the vault having pierced the clouds. It explodes with one final shockwave, vibrating in Baekhyun’s bones, and as it does it pushes away the thick, polluting black clouds, revealing the sky underneath.

It’s blue, like the other world’s, but not a bright blue so much as it is a beautiful navy, the same colour as Jongdae’s lightning, rich and dark and deep and far more fitting for this world. Their sun is nothing like the other sun, covered by a black shadow as it takes up a small ring of light in the night sky, but what’s more curious are all the small lights surrounding it, soft and twinkling silver, a myriad of dizzying lights smeared beneath foggy colours of purple and red and blue and green on a never-ending sky.

It’s the most beautiful thing Baekhyun has ever seen.

“What are they?” Jongdae wonders aloud. “They’re beautiful. Are they all the other worlds?”

Baekhyun shakes his head, laughing in relief, and utter disbelief. “Not worlds,” he says. “Stars.”

And he looks at Jongdae in front of him, scarred and singed and bruised, smiling that stupid grin of his in return, alive and real and wholly his, so Baekhyun leans in to kiss him, a thank you prayer against his mouth, uncaring of the sky’s revelation completely as he smiles against Jongdae’s mouth, thinking that the stars’ beauty have got nothing compared to his Jongdae.

 

☀

 

When Baekhyun cries after tasting his mother’s cooking, she gives him a strange look.

“Been eating too many cup noodles?” Baekbeom teases, and Baekhyun wipes his nose on the back of his arm, thinking to the other world where he doesn’t even have a family, and how much that had eaten away at him, covering up his sadness with a lopsided smile.

“Something like that.”

It’s ridiculously good to be home for the fall break, even if his parents still haven’t forgiven him for his weeks off the grid after ‘losing his phone’, but Baekhyun finds it’s kind of hard to be around them unable to talk about what really happened to him this semester. He still has trouble sleeping in the dark, sometimes, waking up to nightmares that he’s somewhere that doesn’t belong to him.

But it’s not too unbearable; if Baekhyun can handle differential geometry, he can deal with this too.

His phone buzzes just as he’s brushing his teeth, and Baekhyun checks it curiously, toothbrush hanging out of his mouth as he examines the notification sitting on top of his lock screen --a photo of the other Baekhyun and Jongdae cuddling in their sleep, courtesy of Sehun. It’s from Jongdae.

 _Go outside_.

Baekhyun frowns at the cryptic message in amusement, rinsing out his mouth before padding downstairs and out the front door, careful not to wake the sleeping Byun household past midnight. Jongdae’s shitty car is waiting for him on the curb, engine off, Jongdae leaning against the hood. Under the white streetlight in the autumn air, dressed in a sweater and jeans for thanksgiving, Jongdae is unfairly beautiful.

Baekhyun, in his bunny slippers and music note pyjamas, feels oddly underdressed.

“Miss me that much?” He teases as he walks forward easily to take the spot beside Jongdae on the car hood.

“Maybe,” Jongdae mumbles, giving a boyish smile, and as Baekhyun’s heart seizes up in his chest he thinks, _fuck_. Fucking Jongdae, being all loveable and shit. Ugh. “Cold?”

Baekhyun hums noncommittally, warm with his arm pressed against Jongdae like this. “Not really.”

Jongdae pauses. “... You sure?”

Baekhyun arches an eyebrow at his strange attitude. “Why?”

“Well, you know,” Jongdae stands up and reaches through the driver’s window, pulling out his letterman jacket. “Just thought you might want this.”

Baekhyun laughs, unable to help himself, and lets Jongdae drape the cursed thing over his shoulders, curling into it. It smells like Jongdae even though he almost never wears it, and it’s disgustingly comforting.

“Very smooth,” Baekhyun teases, curling his fingers through the front of Jongdae’s sweater as Jongdae stands between Baekhyun’s knees. “Driving a whole hour to come see me _and_ giving me your letterman jacket? Really racking up the romantic points.”

“Good.” Jongdae grins dumbly. “Because I know car sex can be kind of awkward so I really needed the upperhand to convince you--”

Baekhyun flicks Jongdae’s nose with his index finger, and he whines petulantly, cutting off once Baekhyun drags him forward by the front of his sweater for a searing kiss. It’s only been a week, but Baekhyun really _has_ missed Jongdae so much, sighing against his mouth as the letterman jacket shields him from the wind. Baekhyun wonders how one person can feel like coming home so much.

Jongdae pushes Baekhyun’s back further against the car, and Baekhyun lets him, Jongdae’s hands beneath his jaw and at his hips and burning every piece of skin the come into contact with. Maybe Baekhyun won’t need much convincing to have car sex after all, although perhaps it would be even nicer to come out to his parents and admit he and Jongdae were dating so they could just have normal bed sex.

...Eh.

As Jongdae kisses down Baekhyun’s neck, Baekhyun hums in contentment, staring at the starry field above them, amazed.

“So many stars tonight,” Baekhyun muses, and Jongdae pulls back slowly.

“Yeah?” He asks, and when Baekhyun nods, lies beside him on the car hood, fingers intertwined. Usually there’s way too much light pollution to see as many as they are in the city like this, but maybe something about tonight is special. Baekhyun stares at the sky, tracing out constellations with the hand that isn’t holding Jongdae’s, and when he tilts his head to look at Jongdae, he finds Jongdae is already looking back.

“What?” Baekhyun asks, smiling despite himself.

“Nothing,” Jongdae mumbles. “You look good in my letterman jacket.”

“I look good in everything,” Baekhyun corrects.

“Also true,” Jongdae agrees, making Baekhyun flush red. “But my clothes especially.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes at Jongdae’s ever-incessant flirting. “Yeah, well, I think you look better in no clothes at all.”

“Very smooth,” Jongdae comments wryly. Baekhyun shoves him hard enough he nearly falls off the car hood altogether, snorting in laughter as Jongdae yelps.

“You are so mean to me,” Jongdae whines.

“It’s payback for what you did to me in the other world,” Baekhyun jokes, and Jongdae huffs out a short laugh reluctantly.

“... Do you think they’re okay, the other us?” Jongdae asks quietly, staring at the stars like they might give him answers.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun admits. “I’m sure they’re as in love and mushy as we are.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Jongdae counters. “We are level 10000 mush, after all. Elite mush.”

“The mushiest,” Baekhyun agrees, smiling as Jongdae kisses him softly, a disappointingly short thing. “I’m sure they’re okay, though. Who knows. Maybe one day we’ll see them again.”

Jongdae scoffs. “Yeah, maybe I’ll accidentally swap out instead of you.”

“Oooh and I can make out with other Jongdae!!”

Jongdae rolls his eyes in exasperation. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?"

“Nope.”

Jongdae still looks distant in thought, though, crossing his arms behind his head as he leans back. “I don’t know how they’ll visit, though… the other Baekhyun took the necklace back, you know?”

Smiling to himself, Baekhyun pats the small wooden bear in his pocket, the one he’s had a habit of carrying around lately, just in case.

“Who knows,” he muses faux sagely.. “Maybe they’ll find a way to surprise us.”

Jongdae narrows his eyes. “What did you do?” He asks dryly.

“Nothing~” Baekhyun sing-songs, and distracts Jongdae from any further interrogation by rolling on top of him and kissing him beneath the endless sky filled with stars; an efficient distraction method indeed.

"Hey," Jongdae nudges Baekhyun briefly midway through their intense make-out session, gesturing upwards. "Shooting stars."

A surely enough, when Baekhyun turns around quickly, he glimpses a brief streak of light across the sky, and then another, and more after that, inhaling sharply.

"Did you make a wish?" Jongdae teases, poking Baekhyun's side. Baekhyun scoffs.

"What would I even need to wish for?" He retorts childishly, intertwining their fingers. "I've got everything I want right here."

 

✶ ☾ ✶ ☀ ✶

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can u believe im such a baekchen piece of shit i really appropriated baekhyun's precious jongdae given necklace into an entire plot point. yeah me too.
> 
> i really peaked when i wrote two versions of baekchen making out simultaneously in the same got dam fic...
> 
> thanks for reading?


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